Newton girls take third at state bowling

WATERLOO — The Class 2A girls’ state bowling team tournament featured a lot of close matchups and several close games within those matchups.

Newton was involved in a pair of five-set matchups during bracket play and a few games swung the Cardinals’ way on Tuesday during the Iowa High School State Bowling Championships at Cadillac Lanes.

The Cardinal girls reached the state semifinals for the second straight season and came home with a third-place trophy one year after finishing second.

“The girls did great. I’m super proud of them. Third place is great,” Newton head bowling coach Christie Hughes said. “They perform well together and they feed off each other.”

The Newton boys competed at the other end of the bowling center, came into bracket play as the No. 8 seed and lost in the opening round.

The 2A tournaments featured eight girls’ teams and eight boys’ teams. Each team bowled 15 Baker games to determine seeding for championship bracket play.

The Newton girls found themselves in first place after 10 Baker games but settled for fourth for the tournament. The Cardinals knocked off Denison-Schleswig in the opening round but fell to top-seeded Keokuk in the semifinals.

The Chiefs needed five games to dispatch Newton and the Cardinals defeated Western Dubuque in five games in the third-place matchup.

The Newton boys lost in four games to top-seeded North Scott in their bracket matchup.

First-round losers were eliminated but losing teams in the semifinal round were given the opportunity to compete for third.

Council Bluffs Lewis Central came into bracket play seeded sixth but won its second straight 2A girls’ team title. The Titans needed five games to win every round in bracket play. Keokuk was the state runner-up.

The Fort Dodge boys also were the sixth seed in the bracket. The Dodgers downed third-seeded LeMars in five games and then swept second-seeded Clinton to reach the title series.

Fifth-seeded Decorah led Fort Dodge 2-0, but the Dodgers rallied to win the 2A title. The first four games were decided by single digits and Fort Dodge forced a fifth game with a 212-210 win in the fourth game.

Newton’s girls registered a score of 2,758 after the 15 Baker games with Beka Weithers, Gabbie Humphrey, Bailey Hansen, Genessa Slings, Libbie Keith and Nevaeh Bown. Keokuk scored 2,902 at the top and Central DeWitt rallied from the bottom of the standings early to finish second with 2,834. LeMars was close behind with 2,813.

However, second-seeded Central DeWitt and third-seeded LeMars both lost in the opening round of bracket play to Western Dubuque and Lewis Central, respectively.

The Cardinals jumped out to a 2-0 lead over Denison-Schleswig in Round 1. They opened with wins of 193-174 and 190-124. The Monarchs forced a fourth game with a 170-158 victory, but Newton advanced with a 175-174 win in Game 4.

“It was nerve-wracking. We have such a big streak to uphold, and I tried my best to not ruin that,” Humphrey said. “Every pin did matter today. Every ball we threw mattered, too.”

Keokuk was out for some revenge against Newton after the Cardinals upset the Chiefs in last year’s 1-8 matchup.

Keokuk opened with a 214-162 win, but Newton went in front 2-1 after wins of 199-155 and 189-186. The Chiefs rolled back-to-back 206s though to advance in five games.

“We’re even now. We got them last year, and they beat us this year,” Keith said. “Next year, if we both get back here, we’ll try to beat them again. They bowled good today.”

Hughes was happy with how the girls bowled against the top-seeded Chiefs.

“It could have gone either way. They fought hard. I have no problem with how they battled and played,” Hughes said. “Sometimes it just comes down to the last game and the last ball.”

Standing in the way of Newton for the third-place trophy was Western Dubuque. The Cardinals opened with a 178-137 win, but the Bobcats evened things at 1-all with a 184-168 win.

Western Dubuque kept its momentum into the third game and went in front 2-1 following a 168-164 win.

Keith was instrumental in the Cardinals pulling out the win. She rolled back-to-back strikes in the 10th frame of the fourth game to close out a 194-173 victory. And it came after the Western Dubuque anchor threw her first ball directly into the gutter in the 10th.

In the fifth game, Keith needed eight pins with her final ball in the 10th frame to seal the win. She rolled a strike instead.

“I enjoy being in that situation where it’s in my hands,” Keith said. “It’s a lot of pressure, but I enjoy the adrenaline rush.”

The Newton boys had a score of 2,604 after the 15 Baker games with Austin Kennedy, Tamion Adams, Sebastian King, Jordan Killmer, Logan Bown and Andrew Wiles.

The top five teams went beyond 3,000 pins and only the Cardinals and Denison-Schleswig did not reach 2,900 pins. Newton managed only three 200-plus games.

“We had a lot of splits. They were pocket balls. It just happens,” Hughes said. “You try to adjust, but it just didn’t work out in our favor. We got down quick and had a hard time rallying back.”

North Scott was the No. 1 seed because it knocked down five more pins in Baker play. The Lancers registered 13 200-plus games during the 15 Baker games.

Newton fell behind North Scott in the opening round 2-0 after losing 189-148 and 199-194. The Cardinals avoided elimination with a 220-197 win, but North Scott rolled a 236 in the fourth game and eliminated Newton, which finished with a 201.

“Sometimes bad breaks just happen,” senior Logan Bown said. “We did a good job of helping each other, and I know we were a little down after getting the eighth seed, but we bounced back and did the best we could. We put up a fight.”

The Cardinals lose Bown and Killmer to graduation but everyone else on the varsity roster is eligible to return.

“I think they can build off this. They will have high expectations next season,” Killmer said. “This will motivate them to keep working in the offseason. This experience will make them better.”

Having two teams at the state tournament on the same day was challenging for Hughes and the coaching staff. She stayed with the boys, while assistant coaches Seth Banwell and Breanna Bucklin worked with the girls.

“I’m glad I have assistant coaches because it’s hard to do this with two teams without them,” Hughes said. “I felt like I was being pulled in two different directions.”

Notes: The 2A individual state tournament was scheduled for 9 a.m. on Wednesday at Maples Lanes in Waterloo, but it was pushed back to Thursday because of inclement weather. The latest start time was 11 a.m., but the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union and Iowa High School Athletic Association continue to monitor the situation. Weithers, Slings, Hansen and Keith will compete as individuals for the girls and King for the boys. … The Cardinal girls finished second last year and third this year. They will lose Weithers, Hansen and varsity alternate Olivia Pickerell to graduation. “We are showing we are a force to be reckoned with here,” Keith said. “We made a statement again today. We aren’t going to give up, and we’ll come back next year and hopefully have a better outcome. Third in the state is crazy though.”