Altoona, PA - The Mount Aloysius women's bowling team competed over the weekend at the St. Francis Invitational in Altoona and finished in third place for the competition. 

On day one on Friday, The Mounties finished the day in sixth place with a narrow margin of 70 pins out of second place. The Mounties were in second place after the first two matches defeating Morgan State 956-780 and Penn State Altoona 860-644. The third match against Pitt-Bradford was pivotal and the pins just didn't fall in the Mounties favor as they fell 872-789. The team rallied in a tough battle against host St. Francis but ultimately lost 861-825. 

High scorer was on day one was sophomore Jessica Bello with a 18.56 followed by Rayissa Amon with a 18.54. Other averages were Lucy Craig at 17.9 and Beth Longer with a 17.0.

Saturday found MAC bowling back in the heat of competition at the Red Flash Invitational. The Mounties were able to tally up four wins and one loss on the day in the traditional format. In Match 1 the Mounties defeated Norfolk State 875-820 followed by wins over Thiel College 892-577, New Jersey City 887-759 and St. Francis Brooklyn 884-880. The single loss was to Norfolk State 992-923. Top scorer for Mount Aloysius was Longer with a 194 average which earned her seventh place overall, just missing the All Tournament team. Casey Schaffer averaged 172 and Amon rolled a 180. The Mounties finished the day in fourth place overall.

Day three of the event was a bracket style format with three rounds of the best 4-of-7 baker games. Match one was an additional battle with Norfolk State and the Mounties fell in the final game. MAC v. NSU: 240/184, 176/178, 169/152, 191/153, 159/178, 150/187, 160/216.  Match two was against Caldwell: 180/144, 183/144, 187/225, 185/136, 163/147. Match 3 was against Adelphi: 172/189, 162/147, 204/175, 191/143, 158/190, 154/224, 234/221. High baker average on the day was Amon with a 19.9, followed by Longer with a 17.9 and Bello with a 17.2.

"This tournament required  a tremendous team effort as we faced many Division one schools, several of whom are ranked in the top 20 in the country. Not only were we able to win important matches but many players stepped up as never before," Head Coach Barbara Jones said. "This was a great confidence boost for this team as we head into the AMCC championship in less than two weeks. We truly hope to see many Mount Aloysius College students and staff come out to support this team at that event. Anyone who watches collegiate bowling knows that the energy provided by fans propels the teams to success."