Girls bowling: Antioch leads the way with Warren regional triumph
Antioch, Grayslake North, Warren and Wauconda all got on a postseason roll in girls bowling regional action Saturday and advanced into next week's Buffalo Grove sectional at Arlington Lanes.
The Sequoits worked their way to the Warren regional championship at Bertrand Lanes in Waukegan with 5,224 pins. Grayslake North was the runner-up (5,174) followed by Warren (5,101) and Wauconda (4,750).
"I think we do have a pretty strong team," Antioch coach Phil Lindberg said. "We finally bowled as a team. We had a standout, which was Samantha Knab, but all the other girls picked up their games and picked up all their spares. That's the name of this game, spares.
"Right now, we're bowling as a team. We're sticking together as a team and have gotten so much better in spare-shooting this year and in the last three weeks."
Knab was the top bowler in the regional, after earning top honors last week in the Northern Lake County Conference tournament. She threw 1,233 over the six games, with five of her six games in the 200s on a difficult shot. Knab finished 41 pins ahead of Emily Voight of Lakes (1,192) and third-place finisher Gaby Silva of Grayslake North (1,181).
"It was important to finish out strong with so many good bowlers here," said Knab, who completed her day with a 203 game. "In the morning, I struggled picking up spares. Then I pulled my head together and really got myself back back into the game. Then I started stringing together a lot of strikes.
"My teammates helped me a lot, keeping me positive and picking me up if I'm bowling badly."
The other competitors for Antioch were Alyssa Olson (1,037), Jillian Everett (1,026), Allison Kane (1,015) and Kayla Tikovitsch (913).
Grayslake North, which was the NLCC champion last week, is eager to make the most of its sectional opportunity.
"I'm thrilled with the opportunity that we get to bowl next week," Grayslake North coach Laura Bertermann said. "We struggled all day today. We bowled well as a team - we had three people that picked up the two that were struggling just about every single game. So I'm pleased with their team mentality. Next week, we just have to keep it in that same venue. We really just need to be more consistent."
In additon to Silva, the Knights counted the efforts of Taylor Bell (1,123), Melissa Barnett (970), Emily Mack (948), Sydney Swiercz (786) and Samantha Schlesser (166).
Warren was led by Linsy Jante and Brianna Haith, both with 1,088, and got scores from Hayley Gregerson (1,030), Maggie Faje (1,025), Amanda Yoder (644) and Maddison Zeni (306).
Kayla Issleb was Wauconda's top bowler with a 1,058. Also contributing were Kelli Mason (1,018), Jasmine McKeel (1,012), Samantha Cunningham (830), Katelynn Johns (443) and Gretchen Hoffeditz (389).
Voight was one of the 10 advancing individuals with a 1,192; the others were Marisa Garcia of Grant (1,073), Michele Lauritzen Round Lake (1,040), Jackie Koepp of Stevenson (1,088), Savannah Rodriguez of Zion-Benton (1,033), Kennah Porcelius of Libertyville (994), Crystal Garcia of Round Lake (980), Katelyn Kubalanza of Libertyville (980), Colleen Thake (974) of Grayslake Central and Ashley Budziak of Vernon Hills (963).