D'IBERVILLE, Miss. | One year removed from winning the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) tournament championship, Alabama State claimed the 2018 regular season championship Sunday afternoon with a 910-903 victory over Texas Southern in the final match of the SWAC East Roundup.
Jessica Sawmiller went into the 10th and final frame and needed to pick up three pins on her final roll to give Alabama State (58-28) the championship, and she did just that as she picked up the six, seven and 10 split for the win.
"This win means we are still on track to keep improving," Alabama State head coach
Andrew Chatmon said. "We are still learning and progressing, and we are still hungry moving forward. It means everything starting to pay off. Sometimes you don't see right away all the hard work and training that goes into preparation, but it is starting to show its head."
Before the Lady Hornets could have a shot at a championship, they needed to win their first three matches of the day and get some help. And they did just that as they defeated Grambling State 906-662, and then defeated Jackson State 995-942. Needing a win against Southern, the Lady Hornets bowled their best match of the day as far as total pins as they claimed a 1,100-962 victory.
Alize Stevenson was the top freshman in the conference as she finished fourth in the conference over the weekend with an average of 190.0.
Haley Young followed her closely at fifth with an average of 188.3.
The Lady Hornets had three players just outside the top 10 as Sawmiller finished 11th (183.9), followed by
Allison Sledge in 12th (183.7) and
Miranda Remmel in 13th (183.7).
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