LAURINBURG — Unable to get into a groove on Thursday, the Richmond Senior High School girls’ bowling team suffered a pair of defeats.
Bowling at Laurinburg Lanes, the Lady Raiders competed for the second time this season against Sandhills Athletic Conference opponents.
Richmond opened the meet against Hoke County High School and followed with Union Pines High School, which both resulted in 3-2 losses.
“The girls started off shaky,” head coach Ashleigh Larsen said. “They couldn’t get into a groove like last week, but they were able to get things moving towards the end of the night.
“I was proud of them for their resiliency,” she added.
The Lady Raiders added four total points to the season conference standings and sit tied for third with Scotland High School with nine points.
Across their two matches, the Lady Raiders had a team closing percentage of 31.7% (26-of-82). Senior Neely Turner was the individual leader, closing 9-of-16 (56.3%).
Second game hurts Lady Raiders against Hoke County
An 85-pin deficit during Richmond’s second game against the Lady Bucks proved to be the difference maker. The Lady Raiders split the four games but lost the extra point in pin total.
Scores were 125-121, 91-176, 123-109 and 111-114 to finish with a final score of 450-520. The Lady Raiders averaged 112.5 pins per game and had a closing percentage of 34.1% (14-for-41).
Turner was the leading bowler in the match for Richmond, closing six of her eight frames (75%). All six of those frames were spares, which was a season-high for Turner.
Senior Katie Way and junior Ava Thompson bowled two strikes apiece, which was a season-best for Way and tied for the most in a match for Thompson. As the anchor, Thompson also had a spare.
Finishing with five strikes and nine spares, the Lady Raiders used a perfect roll from junior Hanna Smith and a pair of spares by sophomore Jentry Denson (season-high).
Slow start ends in loss to Union Pines
In their match with the Lady Vikings, the Lady Raiders lost the first two games before rallying to tie the match with wins in the third and fourth games. But again, Richmond fell in the pin total.
The Lady Raiders fell behind with scores of 112-128 and 75-134, which saw the second game prove pivotal in the long run. They answered with wins of 108-82 and 138-119 but lost by a final tally of 433-463.
As a team, Richmond bowled seven strikes and five spares, closed 29.3% of their frames (12-of-41) and averaged 108.3 pins per game.
Smith was the leading closer this time, shutting out four of her eight frames (50%). She had a season-high three strikes and one spare.
Turner (37.5%) and Thompson (33.3%) were next on the start sheet. Bowling two strikes and a spare was Thompson and Turner collected one strike and two helpers.
Rounding out the closed frames were Denson (one strike) and Way (one spare).
The Lady Raiders (1-3) will bowl a set of matches next Thursday in Aberdeen against Southern Lee and Scotland high schools. The first match will begin at 4 p.m.
