Having players on a team from the area around the school is a great way to enhance a team’s fan base in a community.

Having two of them, both seniors, is even better.

That is the case with area Lady Topper products, senior guard Cammie Campbell and senior center Sarah Shouse.

The duo, both transfers, went to high schools in the area. Shouse attended Greenwood High School while Campbell prepped at Allen County-Scottsville High School, just south of Warren County.

Coach Mary Taylor Cowles said it is an absolute advantage to have two area players on the team.

“It’s great having two girls from the area on the team with Sarah Shouse and Cammie Campbell as well,” Cowles said. “They both bring tremendous talent at their positions, and they are great leaders.”

After a stellar high school career at Greenwood where she was twice named Gatorade State Player of the Year, Shouse took her 10-point, seven-rebound averages to Marquette.

She finished with two year averages of three points and two rebounds.

She transferred to the Hill prior to the 2004-05 season and sat out that season due to NCAA rules.

“I never had any real plans to come back (to Bowling Green),” Shouse said. “It was one of those things right place right time. I contacted Mary, she was one of those people on the list of schools I was looking at, and it just happened that it was a good fit.”

In her first season on the Hill, Shouse made an immediate impact, starting the Lady Toppers’ first 14 games, playing 16 games overall during the season.

She averaged four points and four rebounds, including reaching double figures four times and ranking sixth in the Sun Belt Conference in blocked shots, rejecting almost two per game.

“The thing about Sarah Shouse is that she cares so much,” Cowles said. “She wants so much for this team to do so well. She’s got a big heart, and she’s really taken her college career to Western Kentucky these last two years and just put everything she has into it, and I expect really big things from her. ”

Campbell took a path similar to Shouse’s.

Following a brilliant prep career, Campbell played two years at Evansville, where a first year average of 7.7 points was good enough to earn her a spot on the Missouri Valley Conference all-freshmen team.

But Campbell was not satisfied following her second year with the Purple Aces, and she transferred to Western prior to the 2004-05 season.

Campbell said she hopes having area players attracts attention to the team.

“Allen County is my home, but I consider Bowling Green my hometown,” Campbell said. “I think we have a lot of Kentucky girls, and I think that we do get a lot more support because we’re Kentucky girls and we want to represent our state.”

Campbell played primarily off the bench in her first season as a Lady Topper last year. She averaged three points on the season, including going for 18 points, with four three-pointers, against East Tennessee State on Dec. 11.

This season, both players are expected to increase their contributions with added experience.

Campbell said she believes, as a fifth-year senior, she has to be a leader on the floor.

“Naturally, I think that me, personally, that’s my instinct to be vocal,” she said. “And as a fifth-year senior, I think you have to be that leader. If you play a lot or don’t play a lot, you’ve been here quite a bit.”

Reach David Harten at sports@wkuherald.com.