Two numbers to remember

Watterworth missed the 2012-13 season due to a back injury but returned this season. 

Two invaluable senior athletes finished up their careers at Oakland University this semester. They will go down as some of the best in school history.

For the 2013-2014 year there was an abundance of moments but arguably none bigger than the number 455, the number three, and the number one.

Many say that one is the loneliest number, but for Oakland University basketball star Travis Bader, lonely has never felt so good. Bader sits alone with the NCAA record for three pointers in a collegiate career, a historic feat that was accomplished late this past season.

To quote the late Andrew Carnegie, a steel tycoon, “Anything in life worth having is worth working for.” Travis Bader’s only Division I scholarship offer came from Oakland University, something that may have every school in the nation losing sleep. 504 three pointers later and Bader will go down as the best three point shooter ever.

“You’ve got a guy sitting in the room that’s the greatest of all-time at something,” OU men’s basketball head coach Greg Kampe said. “And we’re not talking about flipping a tiddlywink or something like that. This game’s been played for a long, long time and he’s the best ever.”

This past season also marked the end of a spectacular career for another Oakland basketball star, a star connected to the number 40 and 23. The OU women’s basketball team has been represented for four long years by the nation’s 23rd all-time leader in scoring, Bethany Watterworth.

The graduating senior has donned the number 40 for the past four season for the Golden Grizzlies, scoring over 1,900 points over a career that will go down as one of the best ever in school history.

Watterworth’s career, just like Bader’s, has had some adversity that was overcome. Bethany missed the entire 2012-2013 season due to a back injury, but in the end the injury wasn’t able to overcome Watterworth’s determination and drive to get back and finish strong.

In a recent interview with The Post’s Matt Saulino, Watterworth spoke on her journey back and adversity she overcame.

“With all that I had to go through the past couple years, it was just really cool to play,” she said. “I had to wait over a year and a half, so the fact that I was just able to go out and play and pick up where I left off is amazing.”

A career that was hampered by injury but defined by hard work, humbleness, and determination, Watterworth will go down in OU’s history books as one of only players in the programs history to eclipse 1,900 points in a career.