The Lady Panthers bowling team brought home the first place trophy after a clean sweep in the Le Tiger Classic Bowling Tournament hosted by Texas Southern University Nov. 13 and 14 in Houston.
Coach Glenn White said, “This was by far the most dominating performance for our bowling team since I’ve been here and by most teams in general. These young ladies performed at a high level from beginning to end in this tournament and I can’t be more proud of them as I am right now. This was the result of a lot of hard work in practice and a re-commitment by the team to maximize their talents to the highest level possible.”
Freshman Cynthia Veney received most valuable player after finishing with a 201 pin average for five games. PVAMU also placed four of the five members on the all-tournament team. Along with Veney were team captain and junior Kristina Sadler with a 196.4 pin average and co-captain and sophomore Lejewelia Lewis with a 192.4 pin average and senior Misty Dawson with a 196.6 pin average. Dawson also earned second high game with 256 pins and second place high series with a total pin count of 633.
“I kept my thoughts together and focused on my game,” said Veney. “I thrived on my teammates’ positive attitude.”
During the first day of the tournament, the Lady Panthers beat Jackson State, Texas Southern, Grambling State and Louisiana Tech. The Lady Panthers bowled two games with a total pin count of more than 1,000 pins.
PVAMU struggled against the Lady Bulldogs and Steven F. Austin during the tournament, barely beating both teams.
“We had to pump ourselves up to beat SFA. We really had to push ourselves and motivate ourselves just to get through it and keep the title,” said Phebe Jackson, a senior business management major.
During the match against Louisiana Tech, the Panther bowlers pulled off a victory after coming from behind. Lewis and Veney closed the game with strikes and spares to win the game. Sadler said they were down by 30 or so pins but kept the mentality of needing to win.
“By having a positive mentality, we changed the entire outcome. We just won, we pulled it out,” said Sadler.
Jackson said that placing seventh in their last tournament encouraged them to do their best during Saturday’s competition. She said that they decided to start over like a brand new team in a new season.
“We were more together as a team, we learned from our mistakes and we pulled it through,” said Sadler. “We were consistently strong.”
According to Dawson, this was the team’s first time earning a first place win for the tournament.
“I hope we do the best that we can for the rest of the year and bring back some more first place trophies,” Jackson said.