The Oswego High School girls bowling team competed in a field of tough competition at the Plainfield North Sectional Tournament at Echo Lanes in Morris. A slow start to the tournament with an 828 team score put Oswego near the bottom. Only the top four teams qualify for the State Tournament.
Oswego bounced back in games two and three of the morning round with 894 and 926, respectively. The morning total of 2,648 was good for second place, but four teams were within 100 pins to make it a tight race.
In the afternoon, Oswego had two of their best games of the day with 964 in game four and 935 in game five. Heading into the final game of the tournament, Oswego was in second place with a nice cushion on the other teams. It appeared that the team easily would qualify for the State Tournament, but then the team began to struggle in game six to finish with 807, lowest of the tournament. Oswego hung on to a qualifying spot and finished in third place. The team will compete in the IHSA State Tournament in Rockford at Cherry Lanes Friday and Saturday.
Freshman Lani Breedlove rolled a career-best 1,286 series in the biggest tournament of her young high school career. She was one of four individual medalists in the tournament and finished in third place with a 214 average. The next best freshman in the tournament finished in 43rd place and shot 1,013.
Another bowler who has been a leader for the Panthers all season is junior Savanna Jourdan who finished in 19th place with a total of 1,112. Another Oswego, sophomore Evelyn James, had a career high 1,052 series to give the team the boost it needed. Contributing to the third place finish for Oswego were Katelyn Watson, 957; Lexi Dellaca, 788 in five games; and Lily Ratledge, 159 in one game. Dellaca bounced back from a tough morning to put up some solid afternoon scores. Ratledge came in off the bench on two occasions and filled frames to help give the Panthers a much needed boost.
Qualifying for the State Tournament from the Plainfield North Sectional were two other Southwest Prairie Conference teams, Yorkville and Oswego East.
— Oswego High School