JONESBORO, Ark. — Justine Brookover had herself quite the Mid-Invitational Winter stay Saturday.
 
In five games, the Lincoln Memorial sophomore compiled games of 231, 227, 158, 210 and 184 for 1,010 total pins and a 202 average. Those efforts and her 49-percent strike percentage, 85 fill-the-frame percentage and 92 single-pin conversion percentage placed her eighth among 128 bowlers.
 
"Justine bowled exceptionally well today adapting to the transition and staying mentally strong when it became more challenging," LMU Director of Bowling Joseph Slowinski said.
 
The No. 15 Lady Railsplitters opened the second day in Jonesboro, Ark., with a bye where they bowled a 981 before edging No. 14 Louisiana Tech in a 919-983 loss.
 
LMU then dropped a narrow 923-885 game to No. 24 Central Missouri, but bounced back in a 956-605 victory over Gambling State in the eighth game. The Lady Railsplitters then finished the traditional game day with a loss to Kentucky Wesleyan, 924-850.
 
"This tournament has historically been a challenge for us and this year is not an exception," Slowinski said. "With a 59-day break between the end of competition in the fall and this tournament, for us, the team's execution is simply not tournament team ready. We gave away too many pins through poor repetition as a collective unit — although this reality acted as a catalyst to work hard in training, and we achieved a higher performance level starting in late January. We are here to gain tournament experience in our start to the second half of our season."
 
Also individually, sophomore Tyra Sanchez finished 48th with a 179 average, while freshman Haley Youker was 62nd (164.60). Sophomore Christine Hansen was 71st (192) in just four games.
 
LMU heads into the best-of-7 Championship Sunday as the No. 14 seed, facing off with No. 13-seeded Jackson State in the first game of the final day.
 
"We want to be better each day and we were better today than day one but not where we wanted to be," Slowinski said. "[Sunday] is an opportunity to return home with a significantly better feeling than today. In short, we want to win matches tomorrow with a consistently higher performance and more consistency than today."