Lady Cougars roll to a fifth place showing in first ever bracket play #GoBarton
Lady Cougars roll to a fifth place showing in first ever bracket play.
The Barton Community College women's bowling team rolled their way into the program's first ever bracket play placing fifth this past weekend at the 11th Annual Hammer Lions Classic held in St. Charles, Missouri.
Competing against eight other squads, the Lady Cougars mowed down 5078 pins in placed fifth in Saturday's Team Challenge competition. Host school Lindenwood University tallied the most on the day with 5788 pins while Midland University finished in the runner-up spot with 5472 pins.
Drawing the sixth seed heading into a best-of-three game double elimination bracket play, the Lady Cougars needed just two games in the opener rolling past Culver-Stockton College 187-138 and 153-149. Barton put the entire field on notice in the second round taking the opening game 166-150 over top seeded Lindenwood, only to have the Lions damper the upset bid claiming the second 163-156 before wrapping up the match with a decisive 243-115 score.
Moving over to the consolation side of the bracket, Barton found themselves in a hole falling 169-146 against Columbia College but shook off the jitters claiming the second 180-167 and the must-win third game 193-147 to set up a rematch against Lindenwood.
In the second go around between the Cougars and Lions, Barton climbed out of 158-137 first game loss to edge the Lions by just nine pins to force a deciding third. Coming up just twenty-six pins shy, the upset bid fell short as Lindenwood advanced with a 200-174 before placing in the top-four of the tournament.
Individually, the Lady Cougars were led by Great Bend native Allison Brodrick's 13th place finish as the sophomore accumulated a team high 531 total pins averaging 177 knock downs per game bowled.
Freshman Faith Whited bowled a team single game high recording 191 total pins in the second game earning a 17th place finish falling just one pin shy of teammate Alexis Leon's 16th place finish.
Barton's next action will be closer to home as the Lady Cougars compete in the Jayhawk Collegiate Challenge held Saturday and Sunday at West Ridge Lanes in Topeka, Kansas.