NEW CASTLE, Del. – The Kutztown University women's bowling team opened Sunday with four baker wins at the Northeast Roundup, hosted by Wilmington (Del.) University, before capping off its regular season with a tight, 4-2 loss in the lone best-of-seven baker round to Caldwell at the New Castle Bowlerama.
The 25th-ranked Golden Bears took advantage of a low-scoring day from its opponents, as it opened with a 962-815 win over Wilmington (Del.) and finished the five-game baker period with a 972-712 win over Long Island. It had a pair of two closer contests in a 1014-988 win over Mercyhurst and an 872-843 win over Holy Family, but the team managed to put together a perfect Sunday heading into the final round of play.
Kutztown's best-of-seven baker match started strong with a 224-179 win in game one to go up 1-0, but three Caldwell wins tipped momentum away from the strong Golden Bears squad. The quintet regrouped for a 19-pin win in game five, but a two-pin Caldwell victory in the sixth and final game put the Cougars on top in the end.
Sunday's action featured a unit of
Sydney Snyder (Morrisville, Pa./Conwell-Egan Catholic),
Brooke Heimbach (Boyertown, Pa./Boyertown),
Shelby Wunch (Easton, Md./Easton),
Isabella Hopper (Mifflinville, Pa./Berwick) and
Madilyn Bogovic (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cedar Cliff) for all five matches. The team bowled a day-high 236 in game four of the second match victory over Mercyhurst, one of three 200+ pin games the team bowled in five-game baker play. The bunch also put together a 227-pin game to close out Long Island, and used 226- and 222-pin games to defeat Wilmington in the opening game.
The Golden Bears conclude the regular season with a 56-29 record and a 65.9 winning percentage - a career-best mark for sixth-year head coach
Angela Reynolds - and the program's best mark since its historic 100-win season in 2010-11. The 2025-26 campaign started off with a 6-0 record, and features a pair of tournament victories at the team's home Golden Bear Invite and the Dr. Robert Cincotta Memorial Invitational. The Maroon and Gold's record once again sits among the conference's best, as KU sits in a similar position as it did a season ago when it secured its first East Coast Conference Championship.
The team will look ahead to the East Coast Conference Women's Bowling Championships this upcoming weekend, March 20-22, at Bowler City Lanes in Hackensack, N.J. The tournament schedule and layout will be announced later this week, as it will be the lone outing to feature all nine ECC teams competing at the same tournament.
