His team’s continued status as central Ohio’s top big-school program notwithstanding, Gahanna Lincoln girls bowling coach Todd Burns just wanted a chance at match play during the Division I state tournament March 7 at HP Lanes.
The Lions were in sixth place after three qualifying rounds and six Baker games, but their pedigree shined during the championship round with wins over Massillon Perry and Bellefontaine before a 3-0 loss to Celina (178-153, 142-125, 190-173) in the final.
That put a bow on Gahanna’s best season since 2021, when the Lions won their third state title in four years. This was the Lions’ first state final appearance since, and a senior class anchored by Jessica Goldman, Rachel Goldman and Lacey Holden contributed to a 46-5 regular-season record with three district titles in four seasons and a state berth every year.
“I told the girls going into this that if we could just make it to match play, anything could happen,” Burns said. “I eyed Celina from the very beginning of the season. I thought they were one of the top teams in the state. I knew we would have our work cut out for us, but they kind of took it to us. I am tremendously proud of this group.”
Gahanna defeated Perry 3-2 (162-166, 170-134, 167-146, 186-196, 212-150) in a quarterfinal and Bellefontaine 3-1 (172-145, 176-164, 146-179, 166-151) in a semifinal but ran into a buzz saw in Celina, which won its first championship.
Holden was 19th individually (566), followed by Jessica Goldman (56th, 484), freshmen Amy Dalton (62nd, 474) and Kennedy Carruthers (68th, 458) and sophomore Mikayla Hull (82nd, 355).
“To see our young girls step up toward the end of the year, that is what propelled us to where we ended up,” Burns said.
Hilliard Bradley freshman Lydia Gordon was central Ohio’s top competitor, finishing sixth (624) to cap a season in which she led the Central Ohio High School Bowling Conference in average (203.9) during the regular season.
Gordon rolled games of 243, 204 and 177 and came up big for the team later, winning a roll-off to force a fifth game in a 3-2 quarterfinal loss to Bellefontaine (191-136, 213-170, 152-191, 125-125 [38-40], 160-158).
The Jaguars, who were in their third straight state tournament, were seventh (3,399) in the qualifying round.
“It was a solid day,” coach Jim Yabroff said. “It just caps off the season very well. …
“[Gordon] competes above her age group [in the high school offseason] so she is very in tune with her game. The biggest thing that worked for her today was experience and just matching up the right ball with the lane conditions.”
Junior Hayli Patterson was 39th (517) for Bradley, followed by senior Kay Butcher (54th, 494), juniors Rachel Johnson (61st, 475) and Avery Hinton (89th, 258) and senior Natalee Kamm (92nd, 168).
Marysville senior Delaney Sherwood led central Ohio’s individual qualifiers with a seventh-place finish (623).
Pickerington Central freshman Kelli Howiler was 21st (560) and Olentangy Berlin junior London Askins tied for 24th (554).
Teays Valley was fifth (3,434) in its state debut after qualifying rounds and Bakers but lost to Celina 3-0 (204-133, 181-173, 178-139) in a team quarterfinal.
Senior Emily Hill’s 12th-place finish (587) led the Vikings, followed by juniors Peyton Hendricks (tied for 30th, 541), Allyssa Langley (63rd, 473) and Paige McDorman (69th, 456) and seniors Ellie Mae Nichols (88th, 296) and Abby Perdew (100th, 137).
High school sports reporter Dave Purpura can be reached at dpurpura@dispatch.com and at @dp_dispatch on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Gahanna Lincoln girls bowlers finish second at state tournament
Reporting by Dave Purpura, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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