PORT JEFFERSON STATION, N.Y. - The Daemen College women's bowling team began its title hunt today at the
East Coast Conference Championship hosted by Adelphi University at Port Jeff Bowl on Long Island. The Wildcats split six total matches and advanced into the quarterfinal round of the winner's bracket with tournament play resuming tomorrow morning.
The 12-team tournament began with each team playing five round robin matches. The Wildcats went 2-3, opening the day with back-to-back wins over Long Island University Post (890-793) and Roberts Wesleyan College (816-740) before dropping three straight to Lincoln Memorial University (954-928), Felician University (962-887) and Adelphi (1007-991). The Wildcats held leads against LMU and Adelphi, but the two nationally-ranked opponents (LMU ranked No 23, Adelphi ranked No. 11 in latest National Tenpin Coaches Association poll) rallied for wins.
With a total pinfall of 4,512 in round robin play, the Wildcats earned the No. 5 seed as the tournament shifted to its double elimination format. In a pre-quarterfinal matchup with 12th-seeded Saint Thomas Aquinas College, the Wildcats emerged with a 4-1 win in a best-of-seven Baker series. The win places Daemen in a winner's bracket quarterfinal match vs. Felician at 8 a.m. tomorrow.
Sophomore
Rachel Steele (Rensselaer, N.Y.) paced the Wildcats with a 17.53 pins-per-frame scoring average while appearing in all 60 frames today. Freshman
Katlyn Newberry (Rochester, N.Y.) also appeared in all 60 frames and registered a 17.26 pins-per-frame average. Both Steele and Newberry posted high-games of 205. Redshirt junior
Kaitlyn O'Hara (Clarence Center, N.Y.) registered the best individual game of the day by rolling a 225 vs. Adelphi. She carried a 16.59 pins-per-frame average over 57 frames today.
The results today pushed Daemen's overall season record to 33-15.
For continuing coverage of the Daemen women's bowling team follow
@DaemenAthletics and
@DaemenBowling on Twitter, or like the team's
Facebook page. Live streaming video of tomorrow's matches is available via
Facebook Live.
