NEW CASTLE, Delaware – The Jax State bowling team made the most out of Saturday's Traditional play in the Northeast Classic, rolling to five wins and into the top seed headed into Sunday's bracket.
The top-ranked Gamecocks (52-9) extended their win streak to 15 matches and grabbed the top seed in the 34-team field by rolling to wins over 17 Sacred Heart, Wilmington, No. 5 North Carolina A&T, Norfolk State and Molloy. Their total pinfall of 5,458 pins on Saturday were 141 pins more than the closest competitor and gave them a two-day total of 10,664, edging No. 2 seed NC A&T by just seven pins.
Senior
Kayla Smith was second among the 213 players that bowled at least one game on Saturday, racking up 1,152 pins and a 230.4 average. Fifth-year senior
Rebecca Hagerman's 1,115 (223.0) tied for fourth, while fellow fifth-year senior
Maranda Pattison had the ninth-most pins with 1,101 (220.2).
The Gamecocks started the second day of the three-day event at Bowlerama by rolling to a 1,137-961 win over host Sacred Heart. Hagerman's 279 led the team, while Pattison added a 235 and
Crystal Elliott a 224. Smith's 216 and
Isabel Allen's 183 rounded out the game for Jax State.
Match two was a closer one – a 952-937 win over Wilmington. The Gamecocks' lowest score of the day was also their most consistent one, with Hagerman leading with a 198, Pattison and Smith each bowling 197, freshman
Dannielle Henderson adding a 192 and Elliott a 168.
The third match was a big one against a NC A&T team that led the field until the final match of the day. The battle between the No. 1 Gamecocks and the fifth-ranked Aggies ended in a 1,087-1,034 Jax State win and saw all five Gamecocks bowl over 200. Hagerman led again with a 244, while Pattison added a 225 and Smith a 215. Henderson (202) and Elliott (201) rounded out the Jax State lineup in the win.
The day wrapped up with big wins and two big games from Smith, starting with a 1,110-833 rout of Norfolk State that saw the senior bowl a 257. Elliott's 231 and Henderson's 224, alongside a 216 from Pattison and a 182 from Hagerman, helped the Gamecocks grab the win over the Spartans.
The final match of the day was Jax State's and Smith's best of the day. The 1,172-968 win over Molloy was led by a 267 from Smith, but paced by scores of 238 from Henderson, 228 from Pattison, 227 from Elliott and 212 from Hagerman.
The Gamecocks will play the Aggies to start bracket play on Sunday, with the winner advancing to the title match.
