Jonesboro, Ark. — Kirsten Moore won her second individual title of the season, and the Youngstown State bowling team had the highest-scoring round in the field during traditional play on Saturday at Arkansas State's Mid-Winter Invitational.
Moore bowled the highest five-game set in school history with a 1,217 to win the event by 47 pins. She also broke the previous school mark for highest average with a 243.4, and she became the first Penguin to ever win two tournaments in the same season. With the Most Valuable Player honor going to the top scorer in the traditional play, Moore gives the Penguins four MVP's in the first seven tournaments of the season.
While Moore was the headliner, the Penguins knocked down 5,370 pins collectively to move from seventh up to fourth place heading into Sunday's bracket. Youngstown State averaged 214.8 on Saturday, which is the second-best traditional average for a tournament in school history. The host Red Wolves were the only other team to shoot better than 5,300 on Saturday as the Penguins were able to chase down three teams in the standings to give themselves a chance at the championship on Sunday.
"We took our notes from yesterday and elevated across the board today to give ourselves a chance heading into tomorrow," said YSU head coach Doug Kuberski. "The lanes played quite a bit differently today, and the ladies did a solid job with shotmaking and sharing ideas to help us stay ahead of the moves. Heading into tomorrow our focus is on continuing to rock the process and enjoying our time together."
The Penguins got off to a great start to the morning by beating No. 11 Sam Houston State 1,105-1,064, and Madyson Marx threw the back 10 for a 279 game. YSU then topped No. 24 Central Missouri 1,010-865, and Moore started her climb up the individual standings with a 261 in game three as YSU topped Grambling 1,088-696 to improve to 3-0.
Some missed spares late contributed to Youngstown State dropping a 1,084-1,059 match to No. 3 Arkansas State for the lone loss of the day, but the Penguins shook off the setback to fire their second 1,100 of the day in a 1,108-1,033 victory over No. 5 Vanderbilt. Moore shot 279 in the final game, and like Marx in game one, she struck on her final 10 attempts to lock up the individual title.
In addition to Moore claiming the top spot, Marx placed seventh with a set of 1,133. Jade Cote finished 23rd with a 995, and six other Penguins also saw action on Saturday.
Youngstown State will begin Sunday's best-of-seven with a rematch against Vanderbilt at 9:10 a.m. Eastern. Vanderbilt had the third-highest qualifying total, Jacksonville State was second, and Arkansas State was first.
