ALLEN PARK, Mich. – Jacksonville State opened its first appearance in the NCAA Bowling Championship by sweeping Sam Houston and advancing in the winner's bracket.
The top-ranked and top-seeded Gamecocks (101-23) set the tone early against the 10
th-ranked Bearkats, winning the traditional point by 200 pins. They then held off a late surge by Sam Houston to win the Baker point 1,098-1,039.
Jax State advances to the winner's bracket final against No. 2 Arkansas State at 3 p.m. ET. The winner of that match will advance to Saturday's 9 p.m. ET National Championship Match, which will be broadcast on ESPNU. Sam Houston falls into the elimination bracket, where it will face No. 3 Youngstown State at the same time. All preliminary matches are being streamed live on NCAA.com.
The two teams were pretty even through the first few frames of the traditional portion of the match, but the Gamecocks made their move and took control. They got big games from
Crystal Elliott and
Isabel Allen to pace a 1,070-870 win that gave them a 1-0 advantage in the Mega Match.
After a spare in the first frame, Elliott followed with seven strikes to set herself up for a 265. Allen got off to a hot start with three strikes and posted a 231, while
Rebecca Hagerman added a 205.
Kayla Smith and
Maranda Pattison were also solid in the game bowling a 185 and a 184, respectively.
In the Baker portion of the match, Jax State jumped out to an early lead and then held off the Bearkats' late push. The Gamecocks bowled a 220 in the first game and built a slight lead and then went ahead by more than 100 pins in the second game, thanks to a 265 to Sam Houston's 158.
Sam Houston started inching back in the third game, shaving 10 pins off the Jax State lead with a 232-222 advantage. The Bearkats got a 21 pins back in a 205-184 fourth game advantage and then made a charge in the fifth that wasn't quite enough.
They bowled a 256 in the final game, but Jax State answered with a 227 to put the finishing touches on a 1,098-1,039 win.
