Newton girls start from bottom, rally to finish second at state bowling

WATERLOO — Under the new format of state bowling, not even transportation issues and a slow start would keep Newton’s girls bowling team down on Tuesday.

The Cardinals arrived at the Iowa High School State Bowling Team Championships at Cadillac XBC 20 minutes late and needed several frames to find their groove but were much better in bracket play during their run at the runner-up trophy.

Newton went into bracket play seeded eighth but knocked off the No. 1 seed in the opening round before eventually moving into the championship match.

In the Class 2A title bout, the Cardinals were swept by Council Bluffs Lewis Central but still matched their best finish ever at the state tournament.

“It took us a few games to get into a groove for sure. They were still worried about being late,” Newton head bowling coach Christie Hughes said. “Once they got started, they picked it up and did very well.”

Newton had multiple issues with transportation and icy road conditions forced slower travel to Waterloo.

The team missed introductions and walked into the Cadillac XBC as the rest of the field was beginning warm-ups.

“It was definitely a roller coaster day. We didn’t do our best in the first 15 Baker games,” senior Kaitlyn Gifford said. “We were rushed and weren’t completely ready to go.

“We got in our own heads because we were late. It was really hard to get going. Once we got a few strikes and got into a groove, it was fun and we started playing better.”

In the new format, all eight state qualifying teams bowl 15 Baker games. After the pins are tallied, the teams are seeded into a bracket and that bracket decided the 2A state champion.

Newton turned in a score of 2,467, which put it eighth after the first round. The teams play a best-of-five series in bracket play.

The best score Newton posted in the first five games was a 160. The sixth game was a 171 and they rolled a 247 and a 204 in the next set of fives games, too.

The final game of the round was a 124 but the previous four all were 162 or better.

In the 247 game, the Cardinals started with a spare and then rolled four straight strikes. They followed with spare, strike, spare, strike and then Bailey Hansen finished it off with three consecutive strikes in the 10th frame.

They rolled a 204 in the 10th game. That score included strikes in the seventh, eighth and ninth frames.

“The girls really enjoyed this format,” Hughes said. “It allowed them to regroup after the first 15 Baker games and come back and fight for what they wanted.”

Newton opened bracket play against top-seeded Keokuk, which rolled a 2,899 in the preliminary round.

The Cardinals dominated the Chiefs 164-139 in the opener and then edged them 169-164 in the second game. In the third and final contest, Newton rolled a 181 to Keokuk’s 160 and eliminated the Chiefs, who had one of the loudest fanbases at the tournament.

“The first five games (of the day) felt kind of rushed, but it felt amazing to be able to come back and do well. It was awesome,” junior Beka Weithers said. “It was crazy beating the No. 1 seed right off the bat. I thought we were going be late and miss practice, but in the end, it all worked out.”

Next up for the Cardinals was fourth-seeded Western Dubuque, which defeated fifth-seeded Clinton in its opening-round matchup.

Newton needed all five games to advance. It won the opener easily 207-151 and then edged the Bobcats 187-180 in the second game.

Western Dubuque rolled a 200 to win the third game and then forced a fifth and final game with a 193-171 win in game four.

In the fifth game, Newton outlasted the Bobcats by five pins, 200-195.

Gifford and Weithers both threw back-to-back strikes in the first and second games against the Bobcats. Newton registered just one open frame in the final game and sophomore Genessa Slings rolled back-to-back strikes in the middle of the rotation.

“Coming in, I was hopeful, but after we beat the No. 1 seed it kind of made me feel like we got this,” Slings said. “I was more confident. No matter what happens, we fought for everything.”

The Cardinals couldn’t keep up with Lewis Central in the opener of the championship round. The Titans won the first game 205-168. Newton closed the gap in the other two games but could never get momentum during losses of 167-147 and 161-156.

Slings thought a key in the final matchup was the Cardinals’ inability to pick up spares consistently. They had two open frames in game one and four each in the final two games.

“It’s crazy. We took out the first seed right away. That was awesome,” sophomore Libbie Keith said. “I was on cloud nine. It blew me away. I can’t believe we just did that. We had a really good finish. It was a good day.”

Hansen said the entire day felt like a roller coaster ride.

“I have never been a part of a roller coaster day like that,” Hansen said. “I just tried to take my time with everything I did. I think everyone felt rushed at the beginning and we weren’t ready to bowl yet.”

The Cardinals recorded their best finish since Hughes took over as head coach five or six years ago.

“It seems like they’ve all been my kids for a while. I am so happy for them,” Hughes said. “They started cheering for each other. They brought themselves out of the funk they were in. They got more into it, hit their marks and starting picking up more spares. Once they started doing that, they saw that they could do it.”

Notes: Assistant bowling coach Seth Banwell guided the Cardinals to one runner-up and two third-place finishes when he was head coach several years back. … The top three seeds were knocked out in the first round of bracket play. Newton downed top-seeded Keokuk, sixth-seeded Lewis Central topped third-seeded LeMars and second-seeded Fort Dodge was disqualified for an illegal use of a cell phone in the playing area during its matchup with seventh-seeded Denison Schleswig. The Dodgers trailed the matchup 2-1 before being disqualified in the fourth game. … Hansen, Weithers, Keith and Slings all played in the state tournament last year, helping Newton finish seventh in the old format.