MILLSBORO, Del. -- The Kutztown University women's bowling team defeated Caldwell in the 17th-place match, Sunday, to finish on a high note at the ultra-competitive Eastern Shore Hawk Classic at Millsboro Lanes.

The Golden Bears' toughest tournament of the season to date provided valuable lessons and growing experiences throughout the three days of competition, but the team stuck together and won their final match of the weekend in another nail-biter with the Cougars.

Over the last two weeks, Kutztown (22-23) and Caldwell, ranked seventh and eighth in the NTCA Division II/III Preseason Poll, have faced off four times and all have come down to the wire. At the Wildcat DII/DIII Invitational in New Castle, Delaware, the Bears dropped their opening match of the tournament by 42 pins to the Cougars, only to rally from three games down in best-of-seven Baker play to beat them, 4-3, later that weekend.

It was more of the same at the Hawk Classic, as Caldwell pulled out a one-pin victory on Friday and Kutztown evened the season series 2-2 with another 4-3 bracket win, showing how small a margin there is between the two sides.

In a turn of events from last week's best-of-seven, KU's lineup of Renee Riffey (Glen Burnie, Md./North County), Dana Henry (Oakhurst, N.J./Ocean Township), Madison Burkert (Reading, Pa./Muhlenberg), Keanna Delp (Mifflinburg, Pa./Mifflinburg) and Alexis Case (Ocean, N.J./Ocean Township) came out and set the tone early. The Golden Bears won the opening game, 191-176, and took a 3-0 lead on back-to-back 201 games. Caldwell rolled a 202 in game four to avoid the sweep and held off the Maroon and Gold in close fifth (187-176) and sixth (192-180) games to force a seventh. It was another tight one, but Kutztown prevailed, 202-188.

Having already faced nine nationally-ranked top 25 teams in 10 matches on Friday and Saturday, the Golden Bears got their second shot at No. 16 Saint Francis (Pa.) and No. 6 Arkansas State on Sunday. Kutztown took a 2-1 lead on Saint Francis by winning game two, 210-148, and game three, 171-157, but could not complete the upset, dropping the next three games by a combined 43 pins in a 4-2 loss.

The following match against Arkansas State, which finished second overall in the tournament, had no bracket implications after the Red Wolves defeated No. 5 Sam Houston State in the first round to automatically advance to the championship match. A-State exceeded 200 in all four games, with a high game of 233, to complete the sweep. Sam Houston State avenged the first round loss to Arkansas State with a 4-2 win in the title match.

Kutztown is next scheduled to compete in the Northeast Classic at AMF Bristol Bike Lanes in Croydon, Pennsylvania, Jan. 17-19.