NEW CASTLE, Del. - - The Wilmington University women's bowling team capped its 2018-19 regular season with a strong showing at the Northeast Regional Season Ender, finishing third of six teams at Bowlerama on Sunday.
In preparation for this weekend's East Coast Conference Championship, the Wildcats got one more tournament under their belt and will head into the postseason after a solid weekend.
On Saturday, the Wildcats went 2-3 in two different style formats, beating Felician in a Baker match, 934-907, and Norfolk State in a Traditional Match, 868-809. They also fell to Felician and Fairleigh Dickinson in traditional matches and to FDU again in a Baker Match.
Individually, the Wildcats were led by Malia Stout's 183.7 average in three traditional matches, bowling games of 219-154-180 for a 553 total to finish 15th overall. Clare Chaffer was 17th overall with a 181.3 average, bowling games of 212-173-159. Jocelyn Hood was right behind Chaffer in 18th place with a 181.00 average, coming in with games of 178-169-196. Bailey Peters also bowled all three games and finished 20th overall with a 169.67 average, finishing the three traditional matches with games of 195-134-180.
Playing in a bracket format on Sunday, the Wildcats set a couple of new program records despite falling to Felician in six-games to open the day. The Wildcats won game four of the match, 258-215, to set a new Baker Format record while their sox-game total of 1,247 pins (207.83 average) also set a new bracket style record for the Wildcats.
In their second match of the day, the Wildcats defeated Chestnut Hill, 4-1, highlighted by a 197-195 victory in the fourth game. As the anchor, Malia Stout finished the game with three strikes in the 10th frame to steal the comeback victory. The Wildcats held off the Griffins in game five, 229-165.
The Wildcats kept the momentum going into the final match of the day, this time defeating Felician, 4-0, to finish third overall.
The Wildcats completed the day by picking up a strike on 54 percent of their shots on Sunday.
The University of Maryland Eastern Shore defeated Fairleigh Dickinson, 4-1, in the championship match to claim the tournament victory.
The Wildcats head to the ECC Championship starting this coming Friday, March 22 in Reading, Pa. The tournament is being hosted by the ECC and Kutztown University at Hiester Lanes.