ALLEN PARK, Mich. – Jacksonville State is one win away from a National Championship in its inaugural season of bowling.
 
The top-ranked and top-seeded Gamecocks (102-23) roared back in Baker play to cap a sweep of Arkansas State on Friday at Thunderbowl, advancing to Saturday's National Championship Match on ESPNU.
 
Just a few hours after upending 10^th-ranked Sam Houston in the first round on Friday morning, Jax State raised the bar in a 2-0 Mega Match win over the #2 Red Wolves. The Gamecocks will now await their opponent in Saturday's 9 p.m. ET championship match that will be decided in a winner-take-all, Baker Best-of-Seven Match.
 
"I could not be more proud of our girls," head coach Shannon O'Keefe said. "All we can do is put ourselves in position to win and be super patient. That's been our motto all year, and to watch them dig their heels in when it mattered the most and get up there and execute two shots apiece was truly incredible to watch."
 
The Gamecocks' rise in collegiate bowling has been an improbable one after the program announced the addition of the sport in January of 2023 and hired O'Keefe in May of that same year. Fifteen months later, she leads a veteran roster that includes seven players that have at least one national title under their belts. O'Keefe will go for her fifth on Saturday night after winning four in nine seasons before taking over the Gamecocks' program. 
 
The Gamecocks were consistent across the board in traditional play, getting five scores over 200 to take a 1,098-974 win and a 1-0 lead in the match. Crystal Elliott was big in traditional play for the second time in as many matches on Friday. After bowling a 264 in Friday morning's win over Sam Houston, the graduate student from Palm Bay, Fla., led the Gamecocks with a 256 in the afternoon match with ASU.
 
Senior Isabel Allen was also big in the traditional win, bowling a 231. Graduate student Maranda Pattison added a 206, senior Kayla Smith a 205 and graduate student Rebecca Hagerman a 200 to account for the Gamecocks' total.
 
Baker play was back-and-forth and down-to-the-wire. After the Red Wolves took a slim six-pin lead in the first game, Jax State switched Allen and Smith I the top two spots in the lineup and roared back with a 248 in game two. The answer gave the Gamecocks a 42-pin lead, but it wouldn't last long.
 
Arkansas State went big in game three, bowling a 259 to the Gamecocks' 194 that put the Red Wolves in front by 23 pins with just two games remaining. The Gamecocks started making their move in the fourth game, getting 13 pins back with a 206-193 win. 
 
Down 10 pins with one game to make it up, the Gamecocks left no doubt in the fifth game. They roared to a 257, besting the Red Wolves' 202 and taking a 1,112-1,067 Baker win.