Kats at Nebraska Big Red Invitational
1/20/2012 9:54:00 AM | Women's Bowling
Led by senior Dayna Galganski, who was named to the all-tournament team, Sam Houston State ends the Big Red Invitational with the event's fourth-best team total pins average.
Arkansas State, the tournament champion after defeating Nebraska and Wisconsin-Whitewater in best-of-seven bracket action Saturday, producted the event's top team average with a 208.18 mark.
Central Missouri was closed behind with a 206.84 average followed by host Nebraska at 206.18 and Sam Houston with a 196.77 mean.
Joining Galganski on the all-tournament team were Gabriella Mayfield of Central Missouri, Sara Locker of Arkansas State, Kristina Mickelson of Nebraska and Rachael Gittings of Arkansas State.
Not at full strength due to health issues, Sam Houston State won six of its 13 matches on at the Big Red Invitational women's bowling tournament .
The University of Nebraska hosted the three-day event at Sun Valley Lanes in Lincoln, Nebr. The 12-team tournament featured a field that contacts eight top 20 teams including five squads listed in the nation's top 10.
Thursday night in quad Baker action, the Bearkats started with two losses, falling to No. 11 Stephen F. Austin 863-810 and No. 1 Valparaiso 894-769.
Sam Houston bounced back to defeated unranked Bethune Cookman 774-701 and split with their final two foes. No. 8 Arkansas State downed the Kats 782-703 and SHSU knocked off No. 16 Monmouth 811-782.
Friday in traditional team match play, Sam Houston opened with a pair of wins, defeating Elmhurst 974-879 and Alabama-Birmingham 1070-903. The Kats closed with three losses, falling to Wisconsin-Whitewater 1056-1012, Central Missouri 1040-911 and host team Nebraska 1121-975.
Saturday, in best of seven Baker bracket play, the Bearkats defeated Florida A&M and Stephen F. Austin and lost in sudden death to Monmouth.
"We've had a couple of tough days," Sam Houston head coach Brad Hagen said. "We're just not at full strength right now. The girls did an amazing job at grinding and making shots but we had a hard time putting more than three games together at the same time. I'm proud of the team for doing what they did but we just happened to catch some hot teams at the wrong time. "
Dayna Galganski led the Bearkats Saturday, averaging 225 playing in all five matches. Kimi Davidson produced a 204.8 average, Michelle Secours 193.6, Neishka Cardona 193.4 and Aida Sanchez 171.2.
Sam Houston went into Saturday's best-of-seven Baker bracket play ranked number six in the total pins standings.
"We made a great run and got close to moving up as high as fourth seed, but we couldn't quite pick up the pins we needed," Hagen said. "We have one more qualifying round in the morning to make some pins up and then then have two rounds of match play for the ending of the day. Our goal is to stay focused, remain positive, and fight until the end."
No. 8 Nebraska, the tournament's host, led the total pin standings after the first day with a total of 4,308. Arkansas State was in second with 4,290 pins, followed by Central Missouri 4,133; Valparaiso 4,010; Wisconsin-Whitewater 3,900; Stephen F. Austin 3,881; Sam Houston 3,867; Monmouth 3,535; Elmhurst 3,521; Bethune Cookman 3,508; Alabama-Birmingham 3,328 and Florida A&M 3,125.
Friday's tradition team play did not see major shifts in the standings as Nebraska remained in command with 9,456 total pins followed by Arkansas State second with 9,387, Central Missouri third 9,354, Wisconsin-Whitewater fourth 8,898, Valparaiso fifth 8,825, Sam Houston sixth 8,809, SFA seventh 8,688, Elmhurst eighth 8.107, Monmouth ninth 8,035, Bethune-Cookman 10th 7,998, Alabama-Birmingham 11th 7,758 and Florida A&M 12th 7,234.
