LAURINBURG — It had been two weeks between matches for the Richmond Senior High School bowling teams when they visited the Laurinburg Bowling Alley on Thursday.
The Raiders and Lady Raiders returned to the lanes following the Thanksgiving holiday to compete in their second Sandhills Athletic Conference contest of the season. Both teams finished the day by splitting with Lumberton and Seventy-First high schools.
Head coach Ralph Butler’s teams would both defeat the Seventy-First Falcons while falling to tough Lumberton Pirates teams.
Following the Baker format, which sees five team members each bowl two frames during each game, the Raiders and Lady Raiders each bowled four games in each match. Individual game scores and the final pin total account for a chance to win up to five points.
Against the Falcons, the boys’ and girls’ team both won by a final score of 4-1.
The Raiders dropped their first game 119-138, before rallying to win games two through four with scores of 136-94, 121-99 and their best score of the day, 170-92. Richmond claimed the final pin total with a tally of 546-423.
In the Lady Raiders’ match, they, too, dropped their first game 96-104. But Butler’s experienced team rebounded to win the next three games by scores of 111-90, 114-91 and 95-90. The Richmond girls won the final pin count 416-375 over the Lady Falcons.
Lumberton proved to be a tougher opponent, seeing the Pirates, the reigning state champion, sweep the Raiders 5-0. Richmond would fall by scores of 146-224, 120-200, 123-163 and 91-181 for a final pin total of 480-768.
The Lady Raiders managed to win one game against the Lady Pirates, the first game by a tally of 133-128. From there it was all Lumberton, which bowled its way to wins of 137-112, 124-86 and 159-106 to win the pin count 548-437.
On the season, the Raiders are 2-2, while the Lady Raiders fell to 1-3.
Both squads will look to pick up two more wins on Thursday when they travel to B&B Bowling Lanes in Fayetteville. Matches will begin at 4 p.m.
