DOUGLASVILLE, GA – The Southern University Lady Jaguars (46-43, 17-11) are no strangers when it comes to tough lane conditions and took that experience to help them settle into fift- place after two days of the TNBA/HBCA Invitational at Southern Lanes in Douglasville, GA.
The Lady Jaguars went 4-1 on Friday during the Baker portion of the tournament, which was the second-best record on the day, but had a total pin count of 4,205 for fifth. Alabama State currently sat in first at 4,435 while Morgan State and Coppin State were tied at 4,270 for second.
Southern was able to take down Norfolk State, 792-764, Grambling, 886-681, and Bowie State, 808-722, before falling to Fayetteville State 809-782. Bouncing back in a big way, the Lady Jaguars posted their highest score of the day when they took down their second ranked team on the season in No. 18 Morgan State by over 200 pins, 937-726.
Returning to action on Saturday, the Lady Jaguars completed the traditional style games and went 2-3 while maintaining their fifth-place position with 8,459 pins.
Southern has a slow start to the day dropping their first three matches. Keeping it close, the Lady Jaguars were able to pull out the victories against fellow SWAC members Texas Southern and Alabama State, falling to both by the score of 806-778 and 835-771. The third match saw the team score increase by 100 pins but that still was not enough as they fell 923-877 to Coppin State.
Finishing the day strong, the Lady Jaguars were able to continue to improve their score and get two wins going into bracket play on Sunday. A win against Jackson Stat, 890-834, gave the Southern bowlers the confidence they needed to finish strong. That carried over to the last game where the Lady Jaguars were able to throw their highest game of the weekend in a 983-846 victory over Alabama A&M.
The tough lane conditions made it difficult for anyone to shoot a game over 200 but the Lady Jaguars were able to capture four.
Kymberly Jackson had two of those games when she came in the third and shot 215 and followed that up with a 209.
Hannah Grather, 201, and
Alanna Coward, 202, were the other games in the plus.
Overall, Jackson was high average on the team with a 187, while Coward had the highest pin count with an 893 for a 178 average. Grather was the only other Lady Jaguar to average over 170 with a 175.
Southern will return to the lanes on Sunday when they look to improve up to third place. First up in the best 4-of-7 bracket style play will be Jackson State.
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