Home Local Sports Two more wins for conference-leading Lady Raiders

Two more wins for conference-leading Lady Raiders

Senior Addison Massey helped the Lady Raiders earn two wins on Thursday. (Kyle Pillar, sports editor)

LAURINBURG — Back to their normal routine, the Lady Raiders picked up another pair of Sandhills Athletic Conference wins on Thursday.

After suffering its first loss of the season last week, Richmond’s girls’ bowling team recorded another 8.5 points in the standings with victories of Union Pines and Lee County high schools.

The Lady Raiders faced Union Pines for the first time this season and completed the sweep of Lee County, which didn’t field a team this winter.

“Seeing Union Pines for the first time, and because we haven’t been able to see how they’ve been doing, I’m pleased that both the boys and girls got a win today,” head coach Ralph Butler said. “The girls should continue to lead the conference in first place. 

“They had a good night with a score of 551 against Union Pines, which is a solid score and similar to what they had at the state tournament last year. If they continue to put out numbers like that, they’ll be hard to beat.”

Senior Savannah Jordan was one of eight Lady Raiders to contribute to two victories. (Kyle Pillar/The Richmond Observer)

Second and fourth games pace Lady Raiders past Union Pines

Changing the lineup a little bit, the Lady Raiders used strong second and fourth games to defeat Union Pines by a final pin count of 551-515. In the end, Richmond earned a 3.5-1.5 victory.

After both teams rolled a 128 in the first game, Richmond distanced itself by 15 pins with a 145-130 win. The Lady Vikings closed the gap with a 132-130 win in the third, before the Lady Raiders broke it open with a final game score of 148-125.

Averaging 137.8 pins per game, the Lady Raiders also tied their single-match season-high with 10 strikes (season-opener against Southern Lee). Senior Molly Erwin and sophomore Ava Thompson, who moved to the anchor spot, each had three strikes.

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Seniors Ashlyn Bouldin and Cadence Thompson added two strikes apiece. Collecting nine spares as a team, senior Addison Massey paved the way with a team-leading five pick-ups.

Bouldin had two spares, and Ava Thompson and senior Savannah Jordan each had one. As a team, Richmond closed out 50% of its frames in the fourth game to earn the win.

Senior Carly Leggett bowls during Richmond’s forfeit win over Lee County. (Kyle Pillar/The Richmond Observer)

Richmond earns five free points in forfeit

Guaranteed five points due to Lee County not having a team, the Lady Raiders bowled their five games to help add to their season pin total.

Richmond rolled scores of 129-0, 122-0, 110-0 and 111-0 to finish the day with a 472-0 win.

Notching six strikes across the four games, Bouldin and senior Carly Leggett each bowled two to lead the team. Massey and senior Rylie Bohman knocked down a strike each and combined for three of the team’s 11 spares.

Ava Thompson had four spares, Cadence Thompson picked up three frames and Jordan collected the final spare.

Now 10-1 this season, the Lady Raiders will close their regular season next Thursday in Aberdeen. The team is still in the conference lead with 45 points.

They’ll face Scotland High School and also bowl an open match for points and total pins. Action will begin at 4 p.m.



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Kyle Pillar is a 22-time North Carolina Press Association award-winning sports editor with The Richmond Observer. Follow the sports department on X @ROSports_ for the best in-depth coverage of Richmond County sports.