Bowlers 7th at Arkansas State Mid-Winter Invt.
1/17/2011 3:12:00 AM | Women's Bowling
The Sam Houston women's bowling team rallied for a pair of victories including a win over No. 13 ranked Valpariso in the Kats' final match of the tournament to place seventh in the Arkansas State Mid-Winter Invitational at All Fam Bowling in Cabot, Ark., Sunday afternoon.
The Bearkats completed the event with an 8-5 record, running their 2010-11 season mark to 36 victories and only 18 losses.
Sam Houston started Sunday with a 4-2 loss to Valparaiso (157-168, 218-191, 158-159, 169-129, 215-178, 159-167). But SHSU bounced back for a 4-3 victory over Texas Southern (170-188, 179-202, 183-115, 178-170, 198-202, 201-144, 181-177) then avenged the earlier loss to Valparaiso with a 4-2 win (187-172, 200-136, 124-173, 169-169, 160-158, 181-196, 187-180).
"Overall, we produced the fourth best won-lost record in the tournament. The Nebraska victory was another big win for the program," Sam Houston head coach Brad Hagen said. "We faced adversity and came away with some good wins. We look at it right now as a great weekend for us to keep battling and make the best of what was presented to us."
Sam Houston started the tournament with a 2-3 record on Friday. The Bearkats defeated No. 15 Stephen F. Austin 904-865 and unranked Alabama State 891-796. SHSU fell to three ranked opponents by scores of 881-846 to No. 14 Alabama A&M, 1,000-902 to No. 12 Vanderbilt and 1,036-903 to Maryland-Eastern Shore.
The Kats bounced back on Saturday, going 4-1. SHSU started the day with a 905-841 victory over Southern.
Highlight of the day's action was a 941-904 win over No. 3 Nebraska, the only member of the NCAA Division I women's bowling Top 10 over whom Sam Houston had previously not chalked up a victory.
No. 4 Central Missouri handed the Kats a 1014-946 loss, but Sam Houston bounced back for 898 pins in a win over No. 20 Louisiana Tech and a 962-809 victory over Priaire View A&M.
Dayna Galganski led the Bearkats individually with a 211.80 pins average. Neishka Cardona posted a 189.25 average and Kimi Davidson produced a 182 mean.
Eleven of the 14 teams in the Mid-Winter Classic were nationally ranked.
Sam Houston, now ranked No. 5 in NCAA Division I women's bowling after an outstanding fall performance, will have another opportunity to notch more victories over nationally ranked opponents when they head to Lincoln, Nebr., for the prestigious Big Red Classic hosted by the University of Nebraska beginning this Friday.
