ABERDEEN — A strong performance Thursday moved the Lady Raider bowling team up a spot in the final standings.
Competing in its 15th and final regular-season match, Richmond (9-6) bowled its way to a 4-1 win over Scotland High School, its fifth straight victory.
The four points bumped the Lady Raiders into second place in the Sandhills Athletic Conference standings. The team finished the regular season with 46 points, one point ahead of Hoke County High School.
Pinecrest High School won the regular-season championship with 67 points out of a possible 75 points.
“This was a great way to end our season and we got some help to be able to get into second place in the standings,” head coach Ashleigh Larsen said. “The girls were consistent today and did what needed to be done to pick up points.”
The Lady Raiders rolled just one match, unlike their previous seven dual-meets. Game scores against fourth-place Scotland were 116-94, 133-118, 108-129 and 136-104 for a final pin total score of 493-445.
Averaging 123.3 pins per 10 frames, Richmond closed 15-of-40 frames (37.5%). Senior Katie Way matched her career-high closing percentage of .625 (5-for-8).
Way had half of the team’s six strikes to lead the way, and also knocked down a pair of spares. Her best game was the first one, which saw her bowl a spare and a strike in her two chances.
A trio of Lady Raiders each finished the match with a .375 closing percentage — senior Neely Turner, junior Ava Thompson and sophomore Jentry Denson — all of whom went 3-of-8.
Denson had two strikes and a spare, Turner added a strike and two spares, while Thompson added three helpers.
Junior Hanna Smith contributed to the overall pin total and closed one frame for a spare. Richmond had nine pickups in the win.
“Our focus now is to get ready for the conference tournament,” Larsen explained. “We have a couple of days to prepare and hopefully we can do well as a team and place some individuals, too.”
The SAC conference championship meet for the girls teams will be held Wednesday at the Sandhills Bowling Center. Matches will begin at 4 p.m.
