LAURINBURG — It was a tale of two matches on Thursday for the Richmond Senior High School boys’ and girls’ bowling teams.
Competing in the regular-season finale at Laurinburg Lanes, the Lady Raiders split their final two matches heading into the postseason, while the Raiders came up on the short end both times.
Both teams began the afternoon against host Scotland High School, before the boys faced Hoke County and the girls battled Seventy-First.
It was the first bit of competitive action for all eight Sandhills Athletic Conference schools since before the holiday break, and Richmond head coach Ralph Butler explained the long delay had an impact on his teams.
“We were still a little bit rusty from the holiday break, so hopefully we’ll get back in a groove before the conference and singles tournaments,” Butler said. “During that time I’m hoping everyone gets their numbers back to where they were before.”
Scotland would defeat both of Richmond’s teams, seeing the boys split two of the four games but lose in the final pin count. The Raiders won games one (149-140) and three (171-127), but were outdone 556-595 for a final score of 2.5-2 in favor of the home team.
In the first two games against Scotland, the Raiders tallied five strikes, two from freshman William White. Also adding a strike were juniors Joseph Grant, Hunter Hancock and Cameron Way.
The final two games saw eight more strikes by Richmond, with White collecting three in his five frames. As a team, Richmond closed 21 of its 43 frames (48.9 percent).
The Lady Raiders fell to the Lady Fighting Scots in all four games, including the pin total for a 0-5 loss. Scores were 99-140, 109-123, 76-119 and 91-149 for a final count of 375-531. A total of seven strikes were bowled for the girls in the four games, as senior Hailey Miller knocked down three of them.
The other strikes came from Amber Henson (2), Autumn Hoffman and Carley Lambeth. Richmond closed 25 percent of their frames (10-of-40).
Following a 30-minute hiatus to determine the final team rankings heading into the final regular season match, the Lady Raiders earned the No. 7 seed and faced No. 8 Seventy-First. Things went much better for the Richmond girls, who bowled their way to a 459-361 win.
Game scores were 114-100, 133-90, 98-68 and 114-103. Lambeth had a team-high two strikes in the four games, while Henson, Miller and Cadence Thompson each added another. The closing percentage improved to 34.1 percent (14-of-41).
On the boys’ side, Richmond was tagged as the No. 6 seed and fell to No. 5 Hoke County 1-4. Scores from the four games were 139-141, 135-123, 93-153 and 110-152 for a pin total of 477-569.
Way would prove to be the day’s best bowler for the Raiders, closing out 58 percent of his frames. Hancock, Massey and White all finished the day at 50 percent.
For the Lady Raiders, Henson and Miller also closed out 50 percent of their frames, while Lambeth was productive at 40 percent.
“There are four or five girls, and about the same amount of boys, who, when they’re bowling well, can place at the singles tournament,” Butler said. “It’s going to be interesting to see what we can do.”
Butler said he chose eight boys and eight girls to participate in the singles events based on their season average. The girls’ tournament is up first on Wednesday, Jan. 15, in Aberdeen, followed by the boys in Lumberton on Thursday, Jan. 23.
The top four bowlers from each singles tournament will qualify for the state tournament.
