Baltimore, MD - The Mount Aloysius women's bowling team took on some very tough competition at the James Brown Invitational over the weekend and came out with a 10-2 while finishing in fifth place overall.   

Friday consisted of five baker matches. The Mounties defeated host Morgan State 944-867, St. Peters 873-803 and Caldwell 948-846. Their only two losses of the weekend were during Friday's competition when the Mounties lost matches to Howard 957-796 and St. Francis by a final of 937-842. High baker average for the day was Beth Longer with a 18.6 followed by Lucy Craig with a 18.5.

Saturday consisted of five traditional matches. The Mounties defeated Norfolk State 911-866, New Jersey City 880-750, Wilmington 812-657 and Coppin State 768-731.  The team also had a bye match that day and rolled a 819 series. Top traditional average went to Longer with a 180 (also finishing in the top 20 for the event individually based on five games) and Casey Schaffer with a 177.

Sunday consisted of three best-4-of-7 baker matches. The Mounties started the day in seventh place overall (based on total pinfall) and took on the host Morgan State in the opening matchup once again. Mount Aloysius defeated Morgan State 179/157, 156-154, 158-204, 182-185, 170-140 and 180-176. The Mounties then defeated Howard 166-232, 203-166, 225-179, 213-210 and 172-161 which elevated their position to sixth. In the final match of the tournament the Mounties took on Norfolk State and won the match 187-189, 164-145, 155-141, 172-151, 184-195 and 191-188 finishing in fifth place overall.  Top baker average on the day was Rayissa Amon with a 19.5 and Longer with a 19.1 average.

The Mounties have exceeded their NCAA record of last year (50-25) with a current NCAA record of 54-20.  

"This team had a very tough weekend on the 42-foot pattern and struggled with several key injuries, but they came together as a strong team on Sunday and finished the weekend in true MAC Bowling style," Head Coach Barbara Jones said.

At this time, Mountie bowling is awaiting the USBC Sectional Qualifier telecast on bowl.com on February 22nd to see if they receive a bid to the Sectional Qualifier in Allentown. If the team receives the bid, they will have a chance to compete against the top 16 schools in the Eastern region to win a chance to bowl for the national title in Baton Rouge in April. Amon has already qualified for the Singles Sectional based on her performance in Indianapolis in early October.

The next scheduled NCAA event for the team is taking place on March 17, 18 and 19 in Smyrna, Tennessee hosted by Vanderbilt University.