Statesmen Place Fourth All Three Days of Season-Opening NAIA Invitational
Addison, Ill.–The William Penn women’s bowling team was in the mix all weekend as it started its 2026-2027 schedule by competing at the NAIA Invitational #1 and #2 Friday through Sunday.
On Friday, the navy and gold placed fourth out of 18 programs with 4,535 pins in five rounds of individual games. SCAD Savannah (Ga.) was the team champion with 4,587 pins.
Kayla Cameron of Indiana Tech topped the field at 205.6 (1,028), while Sophia Best (Redford, Mich., Elementary Education) was right on her heels with 1,018 pins (203.6). The freshman’s first collegiate weekend was highlighted by a top game of 235. She actually posted higher pinfalls than Cameron in all but one of the rounds.
Brianna Thompson (Sr., Campbellsport, Wis., Psychology and Sociology), at 180.0, and Ashley Gorman (Jr., Stillwater, Minn., Exercise Science), at 179.8, also started all five games, while Alyssa Tanner (So., Traverse City, Mich., Sports Management) averaged 196.3 pins over the span of four rounds.
Hannalee Songer (Jr., Ottumwa, Iowa, General Accounting), with a 159.0 clip in three games, paced the remaining Statesmen. Macyn Huston (Jr., Durant, Iowa, Elementary Education), at 151.5 (two games), and Danielle Fincham (Sr., Surprise, Ariz., Exercise Science) (153 in her only start), also contributed for WPU.
Consistency was the theme for the navy and gold during the season opener as they also placed fourth in the 18-team field during Saturday’s second competition which included 25 Baker games. William Penn posted 4,678 pins, while SCAD had 4,817 for first place.
With a total pinfall of 9,213 over the first two days, the Statesmen qualified as the No. 3 seed for Sunday’s match play. The top four teams competed for first place, while the next four battled for fifth.
In the mini mega match format where the first team to two points wins, the first round included total pinfall for one round of traditional games, while the second round was total pinfall over four Baker games. If necessary, the third round included a best 3-of-5 Baker game competition.
WPU fought to the end, but dropped a 2-1 decision to second-seeded SCAD. Then in the third-place match, the Statesmen came up just short to No. 4 seed Indiana Tech, 2.5-1.5.
“The ladies bowled great all weekend,” Head Coach Kirstin Foster said. “They paced with some of the top teams in the country, including previous national champions, and took some points from them. They have been putting a lot of focus on spare shooting and executing higher-quality shots, and all of that was showcased this weekend. We lost our two matches, but took both teams to the final frames, and even had to use a tiebreaker. The ladies fought hard all weekend, and showed that they are a team to watch out for this season.”
Next Up: William Penn travels to Cedar Rapids Saturday and Sunday to compete in the Five Seasons Classic.
