BATON ROUGE, La. — The Southern University bowling team battled to a third-place finish at its home tournament, the Southern Queens, held Sunday at All Star Lanes.
 
Southern opened bracket play against Southwestern Athletic Conference regular-season champion Jackson State University. After dropping the opening game 201-170, the Lady Jaguars responded with poise and precision, rattling off four straight victories, 207-186, 226-194, 171-163 and 214-151, to secure the match and advance.
 
The win set up a semifinal showdown with No. 21 University of Alabama at Birmingham, with a berth in the championship match on the line. Southern surged ahead 3-1 behind scores of 186-170, 190-177, 160-191 and 203-170, needing just one more victory to punch its ticket to the finals.
 
Despite multiple chances to close it out, the pins refused to fall in the Lady Jaguars' favor.
Maria Molina Diaz stepped up in the 10th frame in each of the next three games with an opportunity to strike out and clinch the match. A nine-pin leave in Game 5 and Game 6, followed by a 10-pin in Game 7, allowed UAB to rally with wins of 167-159, 199-179 and 201-197 to take the match 4-3.
 
Southern regrouped for a third-place rematch with Jackson State that went the full seven games. The Lady Jaguars claimed Game 1, 182-168, before the Tigers seized control with three consecutive wins, 219-193, 186-159 and 197-161, putting Southern on the brink.
 
Facing elimination, the Lady Jaguars delivered their strongest stretch of the day. Southern responded with three straight wins, posting scores of 200-181 and 202-179 before sealing the match with a clutch 211-204 victory in the decisive seventh game.
 
Up Next
Southern will be off next weekend before returning to the lanes for the TNBA Invitational hosted by Jackson State at All Star Lanes in Baton Rouge.

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