JONESBORO, Ark. — The Lincoln Memorial University women's bowling team hit the lanes for the first time in 59 days to start its second half at the Mid-Winter Invitational.
 
The Lady Railsplitters bowled well in two loses to two top-5 teams, a loss to No.4-ranked Arkansas State (972-996) in the fourth match and a loss to No. 5-ranked Sam Houston State (955-969) in the opening match Friday.
 
"I am proud of our performance versus the top teams in the country today," LMU Director of Bowling Joseph Slowinski said.  "Facing three top-5 teams to open the second half of the season is a great opportunity to gain competitive experience.  The highs of the day saw us be competitive against Sam Houston St. and Arkansas St. Our focus was high leading to great execution throughout both matches, and both matches were decided at the end of the fifth game."
 
In the third top-5 match of the day, LMU fell to No. 1 McKendree, 1043-877. 
 
After the great opener, in match No. 2 the bowlers struggled throughout leading to an 825-838 loss to Drury.  The Lady Railsplitters then struggled in match No. 3, but were able to finish off an 804-772 win over Alabama State.
 
"Our lows of the day were extremely frustrating as we never stepped up and performed well against Drury and Alabama St, leading to our lowest five-game match scores of the day," Slowinksi said. "We sometimes have the tendency of becoming complacent and bowl down to a lower level when unranked teams are bowling poorly against us.  We have to continue working to bowl at our level no matter the opponent"
 
LMU averaged 192.7 in the matches versus No. 4 Arkansas State and No. 5 Sam Houston State, but struggled with a 162.9 average in the two unranked matches.
 
On Saturday, the Lady Railsplitters open match one with a bye then compete against No. 14 Louisiana Tech, Grambling and No. 24 Central Missouri. LMU will end the second day with a position round.
 
Top individual performances:
 
Junior Mary-Kate Kersting 
Shots greater than nine – 70% (35 of 50)
Strike percentage – 46% (23 of 50)
Baker double-strike percentage – 60% (6 of 10)
Fill the frame percentage — 78% (39 of 50)
 
Freshman Haley Youker
Shots greater than nine – 68% (34 of 50)
Strike percentage – 44% (22 of 50)
Baker double-strike percentage – 55.6% (10 of 18)
Fill the frame percentage — 70% (35 of 50)