Stephen F. Austin
Piney Woods Classic
Ladyjacks Take Second At Piney Woods Invitational
2/7/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Bowling
Feb. 7, 2010
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Sierra Gibbons was named MVP of the inaugural Piney Woods Invitational on Sunday, leading the Ladyjacks to a second place finish in the two-day tournament behind Prairie View A&M at Texas Pro Bowl.
Gibbons averaged a 209 on the first day of the competition in the team total pins portion of the tournament, highlighted by a career-best 266 in the third match of the day against Grambling.
Overall, SFA picked up wins in five of eight matches on Saturday and Sunday, but lost the total pins race to the Panthers by a 7886-7761 margin.
"We certainly would have liked to have taken the tournament title, but in the end I think we can look back and say it was a successful weekend," SFA head coach Laura Cramer said. "I think we came out just a little bit nervous early on with it being our first tournament at home, but the girls calmed down and ended up nearly coming away with the first place trophy."
The teams took to the team total-pins format to start the weekend on Saturday with the Ladyjacks falling to Southern by a 921-873 margin in the opener. Then following a blind game SFA went back to competition, falling to Prairie View A&M 907-862 before Gibbons' 266 and Dustie Hammond's 205 propelled the Ladyjacks to a 956-833 win over Grambling. Gibbons was on her way to a perfect game through the first seven frames and made it to the end without an open frame. SFA then closed out the evening with a tough 897-831 loss over Texas Southern.
On the second day the teams switched to Baker format with the Ladyjacks picking up four wins in four tries, despite being unable to catch Prairie View in the overall pins race. A 691-667 win over Texas Southern opened up Sunday with a bang and SFA followed that up with a 707-657 win over Grambling. SFA then squeaked out a close victory, 652-646 over Prairie View before closing out the weekend with a 676-646 victory over Southern.
SFA has one more tournament remaining on its schedule, closing out the regular season in Bessemer, Ala., at the Holiday Classic beginning Feb. 26.
-SFA-
