OSKALOOSA — The William Penn women’s bowling team fell just short of the top hardware as they finished second at the Heart of America Athletic Conference Championship on Saturday and Sunday.
WPU, the top six-team qualifier with 4,588 pins in 24 Baker games, was knocked down twice by Baker coming from the consolation side.
As top seeds, the Statesmen opened the matchplay with a bye before beating No. 5 seeded Peru 3-0 (179-159, 169-158, 176-128).
The Navy and Gold then edged out No. 2 seed Baker 3-1 (215-179, 203-197, 166-199, 222-151) to advance to the championship round.
The Wildcats rallied to drop Peru State into the losing bracket and force a rematch against the WPU. The Statesmen started hot with a 245 game, but then cooled and dropped the next two rounds. WPU was able to equalize in the fourth game, only to be finished with 4-2 losses in the fifth and sixth games. The final game scores were 245-180, 175-192, 159-202, 182-170, 169-191, 157-205.
If necessary, the defeat forced a game and it went over the distance. William Penn dropped each of the first three odd games but responded in the even rounds every time. Unfortunately, the Statesmen failed to win the seventh and final bout in a 4-3 loss as they took the silver. The final results were 189-194, 195-156, 169-197, 176-167, 181-195, 225-214, 186-205.
It was the third year in a row that WPU and BU competed for the title. Unfortunately, the Statesmen again failed to defeat the Wildcats.
Baker receives the heart’s automatic bid for the NAIA Nationals while the WPU will now wait and see if they’ve earned a spot at large.
“Of course that wasn’t the result we wanted,” said head coach Kirstin Foster. “The women fought hard throughout and showed a lot of determination. We’ve found some things to work on before we enter the postseason, but for now we’re awaiting the NAIA’s decision on whether to go to Nationals.
Next up: William Penn will be traveling to USBC Sectionals in Dallas, Texas on March 10-12.
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