Unified effort lifts Antioch
A get-together the night before the Lake Zurich girls bowling sectional proved just what Antioch needed.
The Sequoits went on to win the sectional Saturday at Brunswick Zone Deer Park Lanes to earn a spot in the state tournament next weekend at Cherry Bowl in Rockford.
Antioch rolled away with the top honors with 5,463 pins, while Zion-Benton (5,379) earned the other spot for state by taking second place. Warren (5,369) just missed the trip by 10 pins, finishing third out of 18 teams that competed.
“We needed to come together as a team,” said Schreiber, who joined teammate Stevie Lindberg in leading the team meeting. “That was our main goal. Obviously, it worked with the way we bowled.”
The Sequoits will be making their fourth straight trip to state.
“These girls know what it’s like to reach state,” Antioch coach Phil Lindberg said. “They know what it’s about, and they enjoy going there. The team sparked each other up out here.”
Antioch stayed near the top of the field for most of the day and finally rolled itself into the top spot in Game 5 with a 985 before finishing with a 920.
“If we pick up our spares, we got a shot at this,” said Lindberg, who mentioned exactly that to his girls before the last couple of games. “Then we got a couple of big games, and it snowballed from there.”
Schreiber started out with first 7 strikes in Game 5 and rolled a 258; Stevie Lindberg added a 235 game.
Schreiber finished second individually with 1,284 over 6 games. Lindberg placed eighth (1,136) followed by Sarah Gagnon (1,099), Bianca Gallery (983) and Cassie Giamarusti (961).
Zion-Benton’s Jessica Capp rolled a 267 in the final game to lift the Zee-Bees past the Blue Devils in the last game. Zion-Benton had a 905 and Warren posted a 869.
“It was a fight all day,” Warren coach Rich Novak said. “We were not as good in the morning and came back from fifth place. To come this close it hurts, but the girls worked really hard to come this far. Zion had to bowl their heads off to beat us, and Antioch was cruising too.”
Taylor Rigwood of Vernon Hills was the individual champion. She shot 5 of her 6 games in the 200’s for a 1,346 and started with a 217, 256 and 236 for a 709 series. Rigwood followed up with games of 185, 227 and 225 for a 637.
“It was more like adrenaline, because I wanted to do well,” said Rigwood, who will be making her first state appearence. “My coaches were the ones that were getting me on my targets, because the lanes were getting dry toward the end.
“I hope to do the same thing next week and continue on.”
Buffalo Grove’s Mariah McVay started out strong and finished that way, too, to advance as an indvidual. She shot 1,276 but had a career-best for her first three with games of 244, 244 and 195 for a 683 series. McVay shot games of 162, 228 and 203 for a 593 in the afternoon.
“I’m really excited to make it,” said McVay, who advanced with her team last year. “It was one of my goals this year.”