|  The Cherry Bowl in Rockford will play host to the 2013 IHSA Girls Bowling State Finals on Friday and Saturday, February 8-9. The 2013 tourney is the 41st edition of the state final and the 21st consecutive year that The Cherry Bowl will serve as the host.
The tournament is made up of two rounds per day, with three games per round and five bowlers per team. Thirty individual qualifiers will roll alongside 24 teams on Friday, with the 12 teams with the highest total pinfall from their five bowlers moving on to Saturday’s finals. In addition, the Top 30 scoring individuals who are not on an advancing team will advance to Saturday’s competition for a shot at individual state title honors.
A year ago, the squad from Andrew hoisted the state championship trophy at The Cherry Bowl, completing a program sweep of the IHSA Bowling State Finals just two weeks after the boys’ team from Andrew had bowled its way to a state championship. Lockport should service notice of Andrew’s dual titles from a year, as its squad could be in position to accomplish the same feat in 2013. The Porters are led by senior Bri Zabierek, who paced the team to the seventh-best Sectional total (6,068) in the state last week after placing 14th individually at state a year ago (2,586).
The Thunderbolts did not qualify for the 2013 field and won’t be back to defend their title, but eight of the Top 11 finishers from a year ago do return, including runner-up Minooka and the squads that occupied the third-place through eight-place positions in 2012.
That group includes Waubonsie Valley, who placed third last year and tallied the second-best Sectional total in the state (6,530) this season behind the play of senior Charley Barbary, who placed 15th (2,562) in the state individually last year.
No team in the state was better in the 2013 Sectional round than Oswego East (6,582), as the Wolves could be poised to improve on last year’s four-place finish behind the return of three of its top four scorers from a year ago. The top returnee is Giselle Poss, who won individual honors at the Plainfield North Sectional with a score of 1,444 after placing 11th at state in 2012 (2,612).
O’Fallon could be poised to move up the standings after last year’s eight-place finish behind the sister act of junior twins Jordan and Lindsay Kasza and younger sister Madison, a freshman. Jordan placed 12th at the state tourney in 2012 with a score of 2,607.
Harlem (5th, 12,150), Leyden (6th, 12,134) and Collinsville (7th, 11,981) weren’t separated by much in finishing in the Top 10 a year ago. Leyden and Collinsville return their top bowlers from last year in junior Reba Hall and senior Sarah Crafton, respectively, while Harlem senior Lindsey Anderson placed in the Top 30 individually in 2012. Hall was third individually last year with a score of 2,671, while Burns tallied the second-best Sectional tally in the state last week with a score of 1,459. The only better individual Sectional score came from Sandburg senior Nicole Powell (1,469), who was second in the state a year ago with a score of 2,684 and has guided the Eagles team to state in 2013.
Defending individual state champ Morgan Flaherty from Lincoln-Way West, the individual Sectional winner at Lockport (1,386) last week, looks to become the second player in state history to win back-to-back individual crowns (Liz Berg, Rockford East, 1998-1999). Flaherty’s winning score of 2,764 last year ranked third all-time among state champions.
Flaherty will have to deal with a slew of Top 10 finishers from 2012 from the aforementioned team qualifiers, while Hoffman Estates junior Sarah Wille (T16th, 2,561) and LaSalle-Peru senior Jessica Temple (21st, 2,526) have qualified individually and look to build on last year’s Top 25 finishes.
| SITE
Cherry Bowl Lanes (Rockford)
Directions
SCHEDULE
Friday, February 8
9:15 AM
Opening Ceremonies
9:45 AM
Start Round One
1:30 PM
Start Round Two
Saturday, February 9
9:00 AM
Introductions
9:30 AM
Start Round Three
1:15 PM
Start Round Four
4:00 PM
Awards
QUALIFIERS
Qualifiers & Lane Assignments
WATCH
A highlight package from the tournament will be posted on www.IHSA.tv in the days that follow the tournament.
INTERACT
Follow @IHSAState on Twitter (tag your tweets with #IHSA)
Photos
Video
Chat
RESULTS & LIVE STATS
Live Leaderboard - Mobile
Friday Prelim Results
Saturday Finals Results
TICKETS
Day Pass-$10
LISTEN
No audio broadcasts currently scheduled for this event
HISTORY & RECORDS
2013 State Series Results
Record Book & Past Champions |