Jan. 22, 2011
LINCOLN, Neb. — Vanderbilt staged an impressive rally throughout the final day of the Big Red Invitational but its big effort was not quite enough to overtake Central Missouri. The Commodores finished second here after winning in Arkansas just six days ago.
In dominating all three of their best four-of-seven games, the ‘Dores closed their day by rolling nine games in a row over 200 and the streak would have been 11 had it not been for a 198 effort getting in the way.
“We are 18-5 since we began the spring schedule,” Coach John Williamson noted. “Today we were a little more consistent and that seems to be our biggest challenge. We had a very good day but we lost the tournament yesterday with inconsistency and dug too deep of a hole. Even today we had four makeable single pin opens – two of them coming in that 902 game – and those little mistakes are the difference in a photo finish.”
The Commodores tinkered with their lineup early and it paid big dividends. In the opening win over Minnesota-Mankato in five games, VU used a rotation of Brittni Hamilton, Kim Carper, Kayla Rhoades, Jessica Earnest and Samantha Hesley.
In the second game, Amanda Halter was inserted for Carper in the 2 slot and after the second game, Carper was put back in the No.3 spot for Rhoades. That became the team that clicked off the bulk of the scores north of 200.
“Brittni started strong, Jess was dialed in most of the day and Sam had eight in a row at one point,” Williamson noted. “That trio set the tone but Amanda and Kim also did well coming off the bench.”
Vanderbilt crafted an impressive 902 in the bracket finale where it as the No. 2 seed met No. 9 Bethune Cookman. That mark was just shy of a school record.
The Commodores will look to keep their spring momentum next week, traveling to Reading, Pa., for the Kutztown Invitational.
Final Team Leader Board
(by average since the format meant not all teams played the same number of games)
Central Missouri 203.51
Vanderbilt 202.96
Nebraska 201.16
UMES
Saturday’s VU Baker Action
VU 4 Minnesota-Mankato 1
VU 192-151
MM 202-189
VU 192=176
VU 229-154
VU 198-166
Vanderbilt 4 Sam Houston State 1
VU 212-194
VU 205-188
VU 213-212
SH 229-223
VU 224-161
Vanderbilt 4 Bethune Cookman 0
VU 235-152
VU 255-175
VU 208-193
VU 204-143
