Highland News Leader

Highland wins MVC, finishes regular season 15-1

By Daniel Fussner
The Highland High School girls bowling team won the Mississippi Valley Conference crown with a 31-9 victory over Triad on Tuesday, Jan 30 at Poplar Junction Lanes. The Lady Bulldogs, who finished the regular season with a 15-1 overall record, including 9-1 in conference play, consist of, first row (sitting), senior Haley Basler; second row, (lying in teammates’ arms) senior Emma Schuster; third row from left to right, senior Kali Rutz, sophomore Kayla Rutz, junior Delaney Grimes and freshman Molly Marshall.
The Highland High School girls bowling team won the Mississippi Valley Conference crown with a 31-9 victory over Triad on Tuesday, Jan 30 at Poplar Junction Lanes. The Lady Bulldogs, who finished the regular season with a 15-1 overall record, including 9-1 in conference play, consist of, first row (sitting), senior Haley Basler; second row, (lying in teammates’ arms) senior Emma Schuster; third row from left to right, senior Kali Rutz, sophomore Kayla Rutz, junior Delaney Grimes and freshman Molly Marshall. Photo provided

The Highland High School girls bowling team finished the regular season on a roll as the Lady Bulldogs bowled over visiting Triad 31-9 to capture the outright Mississippi Valley Conference championship Tuesday, Jan. 30 at Poplar Junction Lanes.

After losing its second match of the season at MVC rival Mascoutah, Highland was perfect the rest of the way after defeating its last 14 opponents to wrap up the regular season 15-1 overall and 9-1 in league play.

The Bulldogs will next compete at the IHSA Alton Regional on Saturday at Bowl Haven Lanes in Alton, with a berth in the Mount Vernon Sectional on the line.

Against Triad to end the regular season, Highland bowled well to sweep all 20 of the team points, including winning the match’s overall pin count by 286-pin margin, 2,788 to 2,502.

The Bulldogs nipped the Knights 11-9 in individual points, with freshman Molly Marshall and senior Haley Basler gaining all four of theirs.

Marshall achieved the highest series in the match with a three-game set of 640, which was also spotlighted by the superior individual game of the match at a 245 first game. She also bowled two good final games of 191 and 204.

Basler was also impressive after shooting a 608 series on descending but solid games of 213, 204 and 191.

Also for Highland, senior Emma Schuster bowled a 599 series on games of 197, 212 and 190 and junior Delaney Grimes had top games of 180 and 179.

For Triad, Lizzie Powell and Lane Burrelsman won all four of their individual points. Powell finished just two pins behind Marshall with a 638 series. She rolled quality games of 199, 227 and 212.

Also bowling good games for the Knights were Burrelsman (215), Jordyn Hampton (178, 177), Karsyn Braasch (171).

Highland’s junior varsity team also finished the season with a win after blanking Triad 7-0. Top games were shot by Sydney Basler (169, 161) and Maci Pfister (169).

This story was originally published January 31, 2018 at 3:38 PM with the headline "Highland wins MVC, finishes regular season 15-1."

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