Towson, Md. (February 13, 2022) – The Mount Bowling team concluded the James Brown Invitational with a top five finish and 10-3 record after picking up a win over Saint Francis (PA) in bracket play. The ladies dropped their first two decisions to #11 nationally ranked Duquesne and #18 Morgan State with close loss after close loss being the culprit.

Senior Kayla Durbala came up big off the bench with a 20.30 baker frame average across two matches. Senior Rebecca Dodson continued her solid weekend with a 20.21 baker frame average. Sophomore Alyssa Alexander (19.17), junior Amanda Yeung (18.62), senior Tamera Stanton (18.14), and freshman Rachel Hines (18.12) rounded out the scoring for MSM.

#10 Mount: 1 (202-202-171-183-193) | #11 Duquesne: 4 (181-213-256-191-258)

The Mountaineers perfect 5-0 record against the Dukes finally came to an end after a 1-4 defeat in the opening round of bracket play. Games two and four proved costly as key opens down the stretch opened up doors for the opponent to take narrow victories. What could have been a 3-1 lead instead became a 3-1 deficit before Duquesne rolled a 258 to seal the deal.

#10 Mount: 1 (255-178-213-101-172) | #18 Morgan State: 4 (219-245-219-136-191)

The same story repeated itself against the tournament host Morgan State Bears. After a 1-1 split to start, The Mount had three consecutive games in which opens in the back half proved to be costly in close loss after close loss.

#10 Mount: 4 (204-176-198-214-224) | Saint Francis U: 1 (168-136-209-190-183)

Making sure the weekend ended on a high note, the Mount remained perfect against the Red Flash this season with a convincing 4-1 victory. Aside from game three in which two opens in the final two frames gave SFU the victory, the ladies were able to finish strong behind the structured lineup of Durbala, Alexander, Dodson, Stanton and Yeung.

"It is good to be humbled sometimes," said head coach Kenneth DeGraaf. "While I would not classify this as a bad weekend, it was more of a roller coaster than we would have liked. At the same time, we learned a lot about what we need to work on. We need to be more versatile at giving our shots some shape when the pattern requires us to move left but keep our breakpoints outside. Too many times we tried playing a hold that simply was not there. At the same time, there were some positives this weekend. We saw Alyssa and Amanda come up big in the anchor position when needed and as a team we shot a program best 95-percent on single pin spares. This next week of practice is huge for us to prepare for the final stretch of the regular season."

That stretch will begin with the Stallings Invitational, hosted by this weekend's tournament winner #6 North Carolina A&T, Feb. 25-27 in Greensboro, N.C. Following competitions include the NEC #3 meet March 5-6 and USBC Sectionals March 11-13.