Coach from McKendree in southwestern IL earns another PWBA Player of the Year honor

McKendree University women’s bowling coach Shannon O’Keefe capped off a whirlwind four-plus months of bowling Monday evening at the USA Bowl in Dallas as she was named the Professional Women’s Bowling Association Player of the Year for the third time in the last four seasons.

O’Keefe clinched her 2022 PWBA Championship after recording a total pinfall of 5,679 to finish in fourth place in the third round of match play and secure a spot in the stepladder finals of the 2022 PWBA Tour Championship. O’Keefe also captured PWBA Player of the Year honors in 2018 and 2019.

On the season, O’Keefe — who is the owner of 15 career PWBA Tour titles and has won three major championships, including winning the Tour Championship in 2017 and 2019 — finished atop the season-long points list and recorded the top scoring average in six or more events.

Additionally, O’Keefe, who is competing for Team USA for the 18th and final season in 2022, did not finish lower than ninth in any of the 2022 events she participated in and bowled her way onto seven shows in 11 tour events, including capturing her 15th career PWBA Tour title earlier this season at the Twin Cities Open that was held at Cedarvale Lanes from May 26-29 in Eagan, Minnesota.

Monday’s PWBA Player of the Year honor came less than four months after O’Keefe led her Bearcats women’s bowling program to its second-ever NCAA Championship and first since 2017 as McKendree defeated Stephen F. Austin, 4-0, in the championship match of the 2022 NCAA Women’s Bowling Championships that were held at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl in Columbus, Ohio.

O’Keefe was also named the NTCA Division II Coach of the Year for the seventh consecutive season in 2021-22. In the final round of match play at the PWBA Tour Championship on Monday, O’Keefe recorded games of 229, 256, 183, 187, 213, 237, 225 and 201 to post a 6-2 record to secure her No. 4 seed in the stepladder finals, which were held on Tuesday evening and broadcast live on CBS Sports Network.

O’Keefe, though, would fall short in the first round of the stepladder finals as Jordan Richard picked up a 220-196 win in the final event of the 2022 PWBA calendar. Stephanie Zavala picked up the PWBA Tour Championship following her 251-181 win in the championship match over No. 1 seeded Shannon Pluhowsky.

Tuesday’s championship win for Zavala, who was the 2021 PWBA Rookie of the Year, was her first major title on the PWBA Tour and her fifth all-time PWBA Tour title. Tuesday’s Tour Championship was the third event of the Dallas Classic Series as Bryanna Cote from Tucson, Arizona, won the PWBA Dallas Classic on Aug. 4 for her fourth PWBA title, while Ukraine’s Dasha Kovalova claimed her fifth career PWBA title at Saturday’s Pepsi Classic.

At those events, O’Keefe lost in the semifinals of the stepladder finals at the Dallas Classic and was sixth and just missing qualifying for the stepladder finals at the Pepsi Classic.

In addition to O’Keefe, McKendree graduate student bowler Hope Gramly (Prosper, Texas/Prosper) placed 22nd overall in the PWBA Tour Championship as she recorded a total pinfall of 5,005 and was 10-14 in 24 match play games. In addition to her 22nd place finish at the Tour Championship, she finished 41st at the Dallas Classic and then lost in the semifinals to Kovalova in the stepladder finals of the Pepsi Classic.

The Keefe PWBA profile

Here is a list of O’Keefe’s all-time PWBA tour wins:

• Major (3): 2017 — Smithfield PWBA Tour Championship, Richmond, Virginia; 2018 — USBC Queens, Reno, Nevada; 2019 — PWBA Tour Championship, Richmond, Virginia.
• Standard (12): 2015 — PBA/PWBA Striking Against Breast Cancer Mixed Doubles (with Bill O’Neill), Houston; 2016 — Nationwide PWBA Sonoma County Open, Rohnert Park, California; Pepsi PWBA Lincoln Open, Lincoln, Nebraska, PBA/PWBA Striking Against Breast Cancer Mixed Doubles (with Bill O’Neill), Houston; 2017 — PWBA St. Petersburg-Clearwater Open, Seminole, Florida; 2018 — PWBA Sonoma County Open, Rohnert Park, California; 2019 — PWBA Twin Cities Open, Eagan, Minnesota; PWBA Tucson Open, Tucson, Arizona; PWBA East Hartford Open, East Hartford, Connecticut; BowlerX.com PWBA Orlando Open, Orlando, Flordia; 2021 — PWBA Bowlers Journal Classic, Arlington, Texas; 2022 — PWBA Twin Cities Open, Eagan, Minnesota.