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March 21, 2005
Fairview Heights, Ill. - The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) Women's Bowling Team is headed to Moline, Ill at the end of April. That is after qualifying for the International Bowling Championships (IBC) over the weekend. UMES finished fourth in the qualifying event behind Wichita State, Lindenwood, and Western Illinois, The Lady Hawks knocked down 11,620 pins over the course of four sets of Baker Games (64 total games). After just 16 games the Lady Hawks were in second behind Wichita State but the tough field came on. After 32 games Lindenwood had moved to second and UMES was 50 pins back in third. There were 48 games complete and the Hawks still sat in third. It was the final set that UMES dropped to fourth. No matter. The top four teams are eligible to attend the IBC Championships and UMES will enter a field of 16 teams, all on an equal playing field. It will be UMES' third straight trip to the event. The Hawk's best game was a 228, rolled on the first day. UMES is no stranger to the Baker Game format. In an event where the teams are asked to roll every other frame among bowlers, (the first bowler rolls the first and sixth frames, the second rolls the second and seventh, etc.) UMES has the only perfect Baker game in NCAA history. Of course this was not an NCAA sanctioned event as the IBC and NCAA hold separate championships. UMES hopes to hear on March 30 that they made the NCAA Championships as well. It will be their second trip in only two years of the event should they receive an at-large bid. The Lady Hawks usually compete in the IBC Qualifier in Allentown, Pa. But were sent to Illinois instead. They still came out with a bid to the April 20-23 event held at The Cherry Bowl in Rockford, Ill. They join six former champions in the field that includes: Fresno State, Moorhead State, Pikeville, Wichita State, all who won their qualifier, and Cnetral Florida, Erie Community College, Kansas, Lidenwood, McKendree, Missouri Baptist, Newman, Penn State, Purdue, West Texas A &M, and Western Illinois.
According to a release on Bowl.com, "The IBC is the pinnacle event of the college bowling season. The IBC brings together the top 16 men's and top 16 women's teams in the country to compete for national titles on national television (College Sports Television)." UMES hopes their next event is the NCAA Championships, if not it will be the IBC Championships. |
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