ROCKINGHAM — One game separated the Richmond Senior High School girls’ bowling program from winning the state championship in February.
While the Lady Raiders were proud of that accomplishment a season ago, a new slate brings with it new opportunities to finish what they started.
Coached by Ashleigh Larsen, who is in her second season with the team, Richmond’s quest to clinch the state title hardware officially begins Thursday.
After finishing third in the Sandhills Athletic Conference standings a season ago, the Lady Raiders went on a roll in the postseason but came up one game shy of defeating fellow SAC opponent Pinecrest High School in the title match.
Things are looking good again for the Lady Raiders this season, who return three of the five bowlers who made that state runner-up run in 2023-24.
Like the last seven seasons since Richmond added bowling during the 2017-18 school year, the Lady Raiders and the six other Sandhills Athletic Conference teams will bowl against each other twice during the regular season.
All matches will follow the Baker format, which will see five bowlers roll two frames apiece during each match.
Rolling four games in each match, a point is awarded for each victory. The team that has the highest pin total will also receive another point for a possibility of five points, which determines the conference standings.
Although former bowlers Neely Turner and Katie Way have graduated, Richmond welcomes back the other three bowlers from last winter. They are seniors Hanna Smith and Ava Thompson, along with junior Jentry Denson.
All multi-year bowlers for Richmond, the trio of Lady Raiders have the experience and knowledge of what it will take to get back to the state championship match. Those intangibles, Larsen said, will be pivotal in setting the pace.
Thompson, along with Way, was also a state qualifier in the individual state tournament last year. She’s expected to serve as Richmond’s anchor again this season, closing out the fifth and 10th frames in games.
Denson and Smith are back for their second season with the team. In the championship match against Pinecrest, Smith was second on the team with a .670 closing percentage, while Denson ended her first season by closing 44% of her frames.
Building the team’s roster by a couple of spots this winter, Richmond will be looking for the next two bowlers to fill the voids left by Turner and Way.
There are four newcomers this winter — senior Caroline De Aguilar, junior Skyler Collins and freshmen Sydney Barnes and Kaylon Wynn.
Larsen said that during the preseason, all four bowlers have been competing to take the fourth and fifth starting positions.
While there aren’t two definitive bowlers yet, Larsen said she’ll let the practice scores from throughout the week determine the lineup. The head coach added that all four are new to the sport of competitive bowling.
In addition to Pinecrest, which Richmond wasn’t able to earn a win against at all last season, Hoke County High School is expected to be another strong program this winter within the conference. The Lady Raiders also lost two of their regular-season matches to the Lady Bucks last winter.
Finishing last season with a 9-6 overall record, the Lady Raiders will try to better their season averages in several major categories: 120.1 pins per game, 7.1 strikes per match and a closing percentage of 0.418.
The Lady Raiders, along with the boys’ bowling team, begin their season Thursday against Southern Lee and Pinecrest high school. Matches will be held at the Sandhills Bowling Center and start at 4 p.m.
