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St. Marys' Kayla Homan earned All-Ohio honors for the second straight year, finishing sixth with a 571 series.
Compiled by Gary R. Rasberry
St. Marys' hope for a third state title fell short as it lost in the semifinals of the Division II girls state bowling tournament on Saturday at HP Lanes in Columbus.
St. Marys, which won state titles in 2011 and 2019, had a strong showing in qualifying and pulled out a big win in the championship round quarterfinals before bowing out to eventual state champion Kenton Ridge in five games in the final four.
The Roughriders started out sluggish in the opening round of three regulation games, bowling a 786 first game that had them below the cut line of eight teams before improving the final two games to finish with a score of 2,695 for third place heading into the round of three baker games. St. Marys kept steady through the bakers, tallying 565 to finish at 3,205 and claim the third seed in the championship bracket.
St. Marys faced Wooster Triway in the quarterfinal and opened with a 177-125 win in game one of the best-of-five baker game format. Triway came back to take the second game 174-131. St. Marys bounced back and took the next two games 145-135 and 223-169 to advance and face Kenton Ridge in the semifinal.
The Roughriders took the first game 168-166, but Kenton Ridge fought back to take the next two games 222-172 and 169-158. Needing a win to keep the match going, St. Marys came up with a 218-180 win to force the tiebreaker game. St. Marys had a bit of a struggle, and Kenton Ridge came away with a 157-115 win to take the match and head to the finals against Mechanicsburg, which had defeated Versailles in five games in the opening round and defeated Rootstown - which had upset top-seeded Napoleon in the quarterfinals - in four games.
Kenton Ridge captured its first state title with a three-game sweep of Mechanicsburg.
Kayla Homan earned second-team All-Ohio honors for St. Marys by finishing 10th in the individual standings, bowling a 571 series. Roughrider Chloe Gibson was an All-Ohio honorable mention with a 569 series to tie for 12th.
Fort Recovery, making its first-ever trip as a team to state, nearly came away with a spot in the championship bracket. After posting a 920 in the opening game, Fort Recovery was in the top eight after regulation with a 2,545. But in the bakers, the Indians struggled to finish with a 472 for a qualifying round score of 3,017, just 13 pins out of eighth place to finish ninth overall.
Kayla Heitkamp finished with a 545 series to tie for 21st with New Bremen's Marina Nelson, who competed as an individual. Brooklyn Wyerick rolled a 524 series.
Versailles, which finished sixth overall, was led by Carlie Gehret's 557 series, good for 16th overall.
The Division I tournament takes place this week with the St. Marys boys competing on Friday and the Celina girls on Saturday at HP Lanes.
