NEW ORLEANS, La. – The Alabama State University bowling team finished in third place on the concluding day of the Allstate Sugar Bowl Bowling Invitational Sunday.
“Although we placed third I felt really good about our overall performance,” Head Coach Andrew Chatmon said. “We bowled against four top 20 ranked teams and with our only loss coming to eventual tournament winner Stephen F. Austin, I think we had a chance to beat them and bowl for the championship, but it just wasn’t our day.”
In round one of today’s game the Lady Hornets defeated conference foe Texas Southern 4-2 (166-165, 209-183, 183-217, 161-177, 189-144, 161-147) in the 4-out of-7 bakers format. Round two saw Alabama State falling to Stephen F. Austin, the champion of the tournament 4-1 (211-210, 168-178, 155-179, 161-218, 181-211). In the final round of the day the Lady Hornets picked up another win against Texas Southern defeating them 4-1 (163-187, 182-149, 233-169, 236-179, 188-181) to conclude the final roll of the day.
“After today’s games I saw that we need to make some adjustments,” Chatmon stated. “The biggest adjustments that I think that we will need to make will be to work on our mental game. I believe that we are as good physically as any other team, but we need to strengthen our mental game.”
Overall the three day event Alabama State finished 5-4 with a total pin fall count of 8508. Danielle Walker (tournament MVP) finished the tournament averaging 214 with a total pin count of 1074, while Jessica Ledbetter (9th place) finished the weekend with a 1000 total pin count and Kaila Ryan (10th place) finished with a 996 total pin count. Senior Briana Wells (27th) completed her weekend with a total pin count of 926, freshman Rebecca Hresko (44th) finished with a 517 pin count only participating in three games over the weekend and sophomore transfer L’Neisha Porter (65th) rounded out the Lady Hornets with a 311 pin count only participating in two games.
“I am very pleased with the performance of the team this weekend,” said Chatmon. “Third place, tournament MVP and two other ladies in the top ten, it definitely was a good weekend for our first tournament.”
The Lady Hornets will return to practice before they participate in the Texas Southern Invitational in Houston, Texas on November 1.
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