BRACKET

READING, Pa. -- Kutztown University is among six teams still vying for the 2019 East Coast Conference Women's Bowling Championship after going 3-1 in Baker best-of-7 double elimination bracket play on Saturday at Hiester Lanes.

The Golden Bears, ninth after Friday's seeding round matches, rolled four 200+ games in defeating No. 8 seed Roberts Wesleyan, 4-2, in a first round match.

Next up was defending ECC champion and 14th-ranked Lincoln Memorial. KU (74-56) bowled a 219 in game one to beat the Railsplitters by 30 pins (219-189) and also captured game four, 191-164, in a 4-2 loss. The outcome could have easily gone in the Bears' favor, as they were dealt a pair of 10-pin defeats in games two (197-187) and six (204-194).

With no margin for error, the Maroon and Gold ousted Felician from the tourney with another closely-contested 4-2 victory. Kutztown won the opening game with its best score of the day, 221-211, and claimed game three by a mere three pins, 212-209. The win was KU's eighth in 10 meetings with Felician this season.

The Golden Bears bounced back from a game one loss, winning four in a row to eliminate Wilmington (Del.), 4-1. Sophomore Laura Hartley (Mt Pleasant Mills, Pa./Midd-West) was inserted into the lineup late against the Wildcats and rolled five strikes on six tries.

Freshman Madison Burkert (Reading, Pa./Muhlenberg) finished with a team-high 20.0 frame average on Saturday.

Coach Joseph Ambrose opted to rest a few key contributors on Friday during seeding matches. The move paid dividends with Burkert, Renee Riffey (Glen Burnie, Md./North County) (19.41) and Alexis Case (Ocean, N.J./Ocean Township) (18.65) compiling three of the team's top four averages on the day.

Keanna Delp's (Mifflinburg, Pa./Mifflinburg Area) 19.46 average was second best of all KU bowlers. Lindsey Gotwalt (Hanover, Md./Meade) had an 18.37, Ashley Fister (Northumberland, Pa./Shikellamy) an 18.27 and Angela Kozma (Beachwood, N.J./Toms River South) an 18.04.

Kutztown will face second-seeded and 17th-ranked Adelphi in a round six elimination match on Sunday at 8:30 a.m. If the Golden Bears are to capture their first ECC title, they'll need to win three matches to reach the final and two more against either Lincoln Memorial or Caldwell.

KUTV Sports will have live coverage of Sunday's action via the ECC Network. Fans can tune in at eccsportsnetwork.com.