Scouting MSL girls bowling
Scouting Mid-Suburban League girls bowling
When: 8:30 a.m. Saturday
Where: Arlington Lanes, Arlington Heights
Last season’s team champion: Elk Grove
Last season’s individual champion: Tedra Tado, Elk Grove
MSL standings going into the meet: 1.Elk Grove (76.5 points won), 2. Prospect (75.5), 3. Conant (72), 4. Hoffman Estates (70), 5. Schaumburg (70), 6. Rolling Meadows (61), 7. Palatine (58), 8. Fremd (58), 9. Wheeling (28), 10. Buffalo Grove (25), 11. Hersey (22), 12. Barrington (4).
Top 10 individuals by average: 1. Sarah Wille, Hoffman Estates, 2. Anna Lessner, Palatine, 3. Kayleigh Duff, Elk Grove, 4. Meghan Mulcahy, Prospect, 5. Courtney Slavich, Conant, 6. Nicole Cusack, Prospect, 7. Brandy Hoglund, Hoffman Estates, 8. Abby Nix, Elk Grove, 9. Danielle Yohe, Schaumburg, 10. Angela Anzalone, Conant.
Best games of the season so far: Lessner (277), Cusack (277), Wille (268), Phoebe Kim, Rolling Meadows (266), Annie Witt, Conant (265).
Best 3-game series of the season so far: Lessner (698), Mulcahy (691), Nix (678)
The skinny: The conference gives equal weight to season-long league play and the league tournament in determining the overall champions.
The team outlook: Last season Elk Grove came into the tournament in second place and had to leapfrog Prospect to earn its second consecutive MSL crown. This year the Grenadiers will just have to hold serve to make it a three-peat,but that’ll be a difficult assignment to say the least. Just like 2012, it’s as tightly bunched as a field can get as Elk Grove leads Prospect, which rolls in in second position, by just 1 slim point. Those aren’t the only two teams in the mix, however — the title is up for grabs as Conant is in third only 4.5 points back. Hoping for some upsets and a big jump up to the top are Hoffman and Schaumburg, tied for fourth. In sixth position, Rolling Meadows has an outside shot but everything would have to fall into place for the Mustangs.
Individual outlook: Wille has been at the top of the standings all season long, and it would be a shocker if she was overtaken for the individual crown. The outstanding junior owns the league’s best average (199.76) heading into the meet and is a whopping 7-plus pins ahead of her nearest competitor.
Bowlers to watch (with their season-long averages):
Barrington: Emily Sullivan (157.58); Buffalo Grove: Anna Haller (162.15); Conant: Slavich (185.91); Anzalone (181.30), Witt (171.06); Elk Grove: Duff (190.97), Nix (182.85), Allison Peters (178.48), Brooke Barges (176.30, Jamie Hicks (166.40); Fremd: Kayleigh Burnitz (177.76); Hersey: Delanie Steinweg (162.24); Hoffman Estates: Wille, Hoglund (183), Melyssa Donovan (172.15), Jordyn Fera (172.15); Palatine: Lessner (192.43), Katie Conrad (181.09); Prospect: Mulcahy (189.35), Cusack (185.16), Kayla Jagus (181.26), Katelynn Bieber (178); Rolling Meadows: Kim (179.16), Caitlyn Wooten (167.21); Schaumburg: Yohe (182.70), Shannon Maiers (179.55), Samantha Hansel (175.93), Sarah Schwind (173.36); Wheeling: Aline Bardak (161.43)
— Bill Esbrook