CORAM, N.Y. -- Though Kutztown University departed this weekend's East Coast Conference Women's Bowling Championship short of its ultimate goal, it wasn't from a lack of preparation or determination.

The Golden Bears, seeded sixth after Friday's qualifying matches, rallied from a 3-0 hole to knock off third-seeded Mercyhurst in seven games to start play Saturday and nearly took down second-seeded Wilmington (Del.) before being ousted from the double elimination tournament in the fifth round by Bloomfield, 4-2.

Mercyhurst jumped out to a three-game lead over KU in the winner's bracket, with all three decided by 30 pins or less. In danger of falling into the elimination bracket, the Maroon and Gold fought back. Lindsey Gotwalt (Hanover, Md./Meade), Eleni Feggulis (South River, N.J./South River), Chloe Sromovski (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./G.A.R. Memorial), Rachel Wagner (Cheektowaga, N.Y./Depew) and Madison Lund (Reading, Pa./Muhlenberg) were responsible for the comeback, rolling three 200+ games and a 190 to stun the Lakers. Kutztown closed it out in style, too, with a 225 --their best game of the day.

Spirits were high following the win and the same lineup carried that momentum forward int oa 212-174 game one victory over Wilmington. The two teams traded games over the first four, the Wildcats winning game two, Kutztown bowling a 201 to take game three and Wilmington storming back in game four.

Wilmington got the upper hand with a 190-165 win in game five, but the Golden Bears forced a game seven with a thrilling 212-211 win in the sixth. As if a one-pin decision wasn't drama enough, the two teams tied game seven at 205 apiece, sending the match to a tiebreaker. The Wildcats eked out an 84-79 win, denying KU (47-41) a chance to play top seed Adelphi for an automatic spot in the championship match.

Kutztown put up a pair of 200+ games in an elimination match against Bloomfield, but both times the Bears one-upped them. KU took the opening game, 159-124, but Bloomfield answered 223-187 in game two, 233-205 in game three and 187-162 in game four.

The Golden Bears staved off elimination with a 184-164 victory in game five, before dropping a tightly-contested game six, 215-211, dropping the series 4-2.

Adelphi advanced to Sunday's championship mega match by defeating Wilmington 4.5-2.5. Bloomfield went on to beat Daeman and will take on Wilmington Sunday morning for the chance to oppose Adelphi in the finals.

Kutztown's season comes to a close with a 47-41 overall record, the fourth straight winning season and second in as many seasons under head coach Angela Reynolds.