TOWSON, Md. -- For the second straight weekend, Kutztown women's bowling is in contention for a tournament title. The Golden Bears won three of their five traditional matches, Saturday, at the James Brown Invitational and remained in the top four heading into Sunday's best-of-7 bracket play.
Kutztown grabbed victories over Howard, Bowie State and Bloomfield, in between losses to No. 14 Mount Saint Mary's and Chestnut Hill in its first and last matches of the day. After entering last Sunday's Griffin Baker Classic bracket as the top seed, the Golden Bears will be looking to put that past experience to good use in trying to find a way to the top of the hill this Sunday.
Freshman
Rachel Wagner (Cheektowaga, N.Y./Depew) rolled a team-high 182 and was followed closely by
Alexis Case (Ocean, N.J./Ocean Township) (180) and
Madison Burkert (Reading, Pa./Muhlenberg) (179) in a 880-820 defeat to the nationally-ranked Mountaineers.
Kutztown enjoyed its largest margin of victory of the day, 955-854, over Howard. Burkert paved the way with a 242 --the highest game by any Golden Bear on Saturday. Lindsay Gotwalt missed a 200 game by a single pin, while
Keanna Delp (Mifflinburg, Pa./Mifflinburg) registered a 192.
Burkert would lead the team again, this time with a 180, as the Maroon and Gold (49-41) edged Bowie State 846-817. The sophomore from Reading cranked out a 194 in the win over Bloomfield and paced KU with a 210 in its loss to Chestnut Hill.
Delp got into a grove during KU's 953-892 triumph over Bloomfield, producing a team-high 202. It turned out to be one of the team's most well-rounded efforts, as Delp's score was complemented by Burkert's 194, Wagner's 189, Gotwalt's 185 and
Laura Hartley's (Mt Pleasant Mills, Pa./Midd-West) 183.
Chestnut Hill topped the Bears by 54 pins in the finale. Wagner supplied a 180 and Hartley a 176 behind Burkert's 210.
Burkert averaged a team-high 201.0 over five matches, with a 1,005 series. Delp went 888 (177.6 average) and Wagner 875 (175.0). Gotwalt finished with a 180.3 average in three appearances, while Hartley was at 179.0 in three matches.
After two days of qualifying in Baker (Friday) and traditional (Saturday) match play, the Golden Bears sit fourth with 9,024 pins (180.5 average). They'll face No. 10 Duquesne, the third seed, in a first round bracket match on Sunday at 8:30 a.m.
Mount Saint Mary's and Sacred Heart claimed the top two seeds. Kutztown can finish as high as first and no lower than sixth in the 15-team tournament.
