LAURINBURG — Entering Thursday’s regular season finale, the Richmond Senior High School girls’ bowling team had a half-point lead in the conference standings.
By the end of the meet, the Lady Raiders would knock down enough pins and earn a final victory to finish as the regular-season champions.
Bowling in its second meet in three days, Richmond and head coach Ashleigh Larsen took care of business in their lone match against Pinecrest High School.
Larsen explained that due to a rearrangement of the conference’s schedule, the Lady Raiders’ first match Thursday against Pinecrest was the final regular-season contest.
The team later bowled Scotland High School, but no official score was kept and both teams bowled four games to add to their season total pin count. Larsen said that tally will factor in later in the postseason.
As the regular-season champions, the Lady Raiders will be the No. 1 seed in the conference championship meet in two weeks.
Fourth game pivotal in win over Pinecrest
The Lady Raiders’ half-point lead at the start of the match was over Pinecrest, which they opened up to a three-point cushion with a 4-1 victory.
Richmond bowled game scores of 109-103, 127-114, 124-140 and 165-119. Using that fourth game score to pull away for good, the Lady Raiders got the extra point with a final score victory of 525-476.
The team posted single-match season-highs in strikes (11) and closing percentage (55.5%) against the Lady Patriots. Using six bowlers, Richmond closed 24-of-45 frames and added 14 spares.
Kaylon Wynn, the team’s sophomore anchor, finished the match with a season-best .690 closing percentage. She went 9-of-13 with four strikes and five spares, both of which were also single-match personal bests this season.
Junior Jorja Moore and sophomore Sydney Barnes both bowled at a 63% clip, closing five of their eight respective frames. Each of them had two strikes and three spares.
Senior Skyler Collins bowled four frames, finishing with one strike and one spare (50%). Splitting those frames with Collins was freshman Ava Parks, who added one strike. Senior Jentry Denson went 3-for-8 with a strike and two helpers.
Pins total adds up against Scotland
Helping their cause for later in the postseason, the Lady Raiders tallied a final count of 518 pins in their meeting with Scotland. Scores were 139, 135, 115 and 129.
The six bowlers combined for eight strikes and 10 spares, averaging a game score of 129.5 pins. As a unit, the Lady Raiders closed 18-of-41 frames (43.9%).
Wynn again led the way with two strikes and four spares to cap six of her nine frames (67%). Moore (two strikes, two spares) and Parks (two strikes) were both at 50% in their eight and four frames, respectively.
Barnes had three helpers in her eight attempts, Denson rolled one strike and one spare, and Collins contributed with one strike. Combining the two matches, the Lady Raiders recorded a single-meet season-high .500 closing percentage (43-for-86).
The Lady Raiders (7-0) will compete in an exhibition-style doubles format next Thursday to help bowlers prepare for the playoffs. That event will be held at the Sandhills Bowling Center and teams will look to add to their season pin count totals.
Next week’s meet will also be senior night for the Lady Raiders’ two senior bowlers. That will begin at 3:30 p.m.
