BEREA, OHIO -- Baldwin Wallace University junior forward Serena Farage is not concerned with being her team's best player. She wants to make a difference and she just wants to WIN.

 

Farage, a resident of Medina who graduated from Buckeye, is unselfish on offense and plays solid, aggressive defense according to Yellow Jacket Head Coach Cheri  Harrer.

 

"Serena is a very unselfish player and has been doing whatever our team needs her to do [for BW] to win," said Harrer, who is in her 19th season as head coach and carries a 385-134 record after last Saturday's 74-39 win against Marietta College.  "When she is playing aggressively, she is a very good player."

       

In the win versus Marietta, and due to the lopsided score, Farage played just 15 minutes and had a workmanlike two points, four rebounds, two assists, two blocked shots and a steal without committing a turnover. The win was BW's seventh straight and improved the Yellow Jackets to 11-5 overall and 6-3 in the Ohio Athletic Conference prior to playing first place Capital University this Saturday in Berea at 3:00 p.m.

 

"Serena had a solid game against Marietta and that's the type of effort we need each and every game from her," said Harrer, who maintains a 13-player rotation that tends to wear down the opposition. "If Serena goes out on the floor and has that type of game, it simply means that we will win."

 

Just a little more than two years ago, Farage entered the BW program as an accomplished high school player.  But she joined a team that was fresh off a 25-5 season, which included an Ohio Athletic Conference regular season and tournament championship and an appearance in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III national tournament "Elite Eight." 

 

As a freshman, Farage appeared in just nine games, but laid the foundation for a solid skill set that has allowed her to become one of the most improved players in the OAC over the last three seasons.

 

"When I came to BW, I found the college game was a lot different than high school," said the 5-foot, 11-inch Farage.  "It took me a little while to get the learning curve and make adjustments, but basketball is all about adjustments.  For me it is just a matter of learning."

 

Between her freshman and sophomore season, Farage seemed to learn as she played in 29 of 30 games and helped BW to a 27-3 record and OAC regular season and tournament championships and ended with a second round appearance in the NCAA Division III National Tournament. 

 

She averaged 3.3 points and 2.0 rebounds-per-game. Her improvement was never as apparent as it was on February 2, 2008 against Ohio Northern University. Farage couldn't miss a shot as she was six-of-six from the field on her way to a career-high-tying 13 points and six rebounds.  Three days before the ONU game she tallied 13 points again and did not miss any of her five shots from the field.  She earned OAC Player of the Week honors.

       

"We are very proud of Serena and how she has progressed," said Harrer.

 

This season, Farage has come into her own.  She is ranked in the top-6 on the team in five statistical categories. She is scoring 3.6 ppg., grabs 4.3 rpg. and has 19 blocked shots, 13 steals, shoots 37.9 percent (22-of-58) from the floor and has 16 assists.

 

"I feel like I have really improved, from freshman year to last year, and from last year to this year," said Farage. "Part of it is becoming familiar with the program and my teammates and another part of it is just enjoying the total BW experience."

 

"We have a great women's basketball program here at BW," said Farage, a communications disorders major with a 3.23 grade point average who hopes to attend graduate school and become a speech and language pathologist.  "Each player has a responsibility to work hard and maintain the tradition of this program."

 

Farage also has even taken on the role of team leader.

 

"We [the coaching staff) most appreciates how she has taken the freshman at her position under her wing," said Harrer.  "She has really become a leader for our kids at the post position."

 

"I feel like it's my responsibility," said Farage, who enters the Capital game with 166 career points, 131 rebounds, 31 assists, 28 blocks and 27 steals and is a career 47% shooter.  "Older girls like Stacia and Michelle [graduated All-OAC and Academic All-OAC players Stacia Shrider '08 and Michelle White '07] kind of brought me up the same way.  I want to pay them back by doing the same for our underclassmen."

 

Farage regards the marked improvement she has made to her skill set as one of her greatest achievements.  The development of her footwork has grown immensely and her basketball IQ, the little-thought-of but integral part of the game, has moved miles since she entered BW.

 

"I really think I have moved toward becoming a more complete player," said Farage.  "At the same time and realistically, I still have work to do both athletically and academically."

 

"On the court, we still have another half of the season yet to play," said Farage. "I am looking forward to it because we are really beginning to play well."

 

"In the classroom, I want to continue to improve too," said Farage.  "I love working with little kids [in BW's speech pathology clinic] and I also love the aspect of helping people to make a difference."

 

Cheri Harrer can attest, Farage is definitely a difference maker.