Lady Bears win; bowl Wichita State in finals

 
 
Lady Bears win; bowl Wichita State in finals   April 19, 2008

PIKEVILLE, Ky. — The Lady Bears of Pikeville College will make their second trip to the championship round of the USBC Intercollegiate Team Championships after a wild 4.5 to 3.5 win over NCAA champion Maryland-Eastern Shore on Saturday morning.

The Lady Bears had their backs to the wall for the second straight day, but just as they did when trailing 3-1 in their best-of-seven matchup with Lindenwood, the Lady Bears bowed their backs and turned around what was a 3.5 to 2.5 deficit.

The win set up a rematch on Saturday evening of the 2004 championship in Tulsa against Wichita State University, which saw Pikeville win 2.5 to 1.5 for the first team championship in school history. The Shockers are the defending champions.

The meeting with the No. 1 team in the country in both polls is fitting for the Lady Bears, who are ranked second in one poll and third in the other. In winning their bracket, Pikeville beat the other team in the two/three spot in Central Florida and No. 4 Lindenwood along with Maryland-Eastern Shore, the NCAA champ.

Game Seven was a thing of beauty for Coach Ron Damron’s team, as it rolled 10 consecutive strikes to close out the game and post a 280 to the Hawks’ 172. Five different bowlers fired two strikes apiece, including Ashley Stahurski, who rolled the last two after subbing for anchor Ashly Galante.

This forced an eighth game, and again Pikeville came alive down the stretch. Leading 136-124 after seven frames, Pikeville got a turkey from Becky Sulligan, Jennifer Wright and Ashly Galante to win 214-177. For Sulligan, it was her second strike of the game and her fourth straight.

Maryland-Eastern Shore, which won the NCAA championships in St. Louis last weekend, jumped out to a 2-0 lead with wins of 187-183 and 190-156. Pikeville started strong, getting three strikes in the first four frames of the opener, but then left a pair of open frames to suffer the loss. In Game Two, three more open frames, including in frames eight and nine, did them in.

Things turned around in Game Three when Galante, bowler of the year Kayla Bandy and senior Michelle McKay rolled a turkey in frames 5-6-7 to lead to a 212-180 win. Pikeville had four straight strikes down the stretch of Game Four, including two by Galante in the 10th, to win 223-159 and even the match at two games each.

Game Five went down to the last ball, with Eastern Shore anchor Laura Zanrucha needing a strike to seal the win on the fill ball. But when she rolled an eight, it left the door open for Galante, who rolled a nine to tie the match at 2.5 to 2.5.

Maryland-Eastern Shore moved to the cusp of a trip to the finals when Pikeville left five empty frames of Game Six for a 212-137 decision, setting the stage for the comeback.

Jennifer Wright rolled 10 strikes in her 16 frames to lead Pikeville, with Galante posting eight, Bandy seven and Sulligan six. McKay had five strikes while Sarah Germano posted two in four frames.