LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Thursday through Sunday of this week for the No. 1-ranked Milligan University women's bowling program included more unbelievable bowling for the squad. A pair of major tournaments in Las Vegas, the Glenn Carlson Invitational (Dec. 18-19) and Collegiate Shoot-out (Dec. 20-21) resulted in lofty placements for the top-heralded team in the NAIA.

The opening two days of the trip to Las Vegas included a fifth-place qualifying mark in the Glenn Carlson Invitational. A total of 7,535 pins were knocked down across the qualifying contests for Milligan, which earned them a slot in the bracket play portion of the tourney on day two.

Emilee Horton was the pace setter for the Buffs, fishing in 15^th in qualifying with a team-best 1,575 pins across eight individual games. Her best showing came in her final game, in which she bowled a 238, helping to improve her eventual 196.88 average.

The second MU placer was Emily Cheesman, who was not far behind Horton in 23^rd place. Cheesman bowled for 1,539 pins in the event and boasted an average of 192.38 per contest.

Milligan's third, and final, top-100 bowler was Taylor Davis. She unfurled a 1,364-pin total in just seven individual games, having not bowled in game four. That equaled an average of 194.86 pins per game, which actually usurped Cheesman's output on average.

During bracket play, the Buffaloes faced a tough matchup in their opener, going up against Spring Arbor (Mich.). In the bout against the NAIA's No. 7-ranked program, the Buffs took home a 3-2 win in a best-of-five baker games battle. The two sides alternated wins, as MU took games one, three and five to clinch a semifinal berth. Milligan then swept Calumet (Ind.) 3-0 to reach the final against Northwestern Ohio.

"It's tough to win any event, let alone a Tier 1," said head coach Brian Rickert. "I couldn't be prouder of the resilience of these young women as they pushed through some struggles early on the lane to make the top eight. Spring Arbor took us to the brink in game 5 and watching Emily Cheesman come through in the 10th frame time after time just reinforces that she's one of the top young women in the country."

It was another dominant showing for the Buffaloes in the championship, as they bowled over 200 in all four games of a 3-1 win to earn a heavily coveted tournament title over the Racers.

"UNOH is a great team," Rickert added, "but our ladies just decided that they weren't going to be denied and brought home the title in dominant fashion."

Tournament number two, the Collegiate Shoot-out, was slightly less prolific for Milligan, as the team ended up in 10^th place with 7,501 pins after qualifying concluded. The top eight squads earned berths to the baker-game finals on day two, so the Buffaloes narrowly missed out by just 15 pins to Northwestern Ohio (7,516 pins).

The Buffaloes had a pair of finishers in the top 12 of the individual standings, as Cheesman stood tall with a total of 997 pins to place 11^th in the event. Her 199.4 average was bolstered by her first contest, in which she bowled a 222.

Directly behind her in the standings was Emily King, who finished up in 12^th place at 995 pins. A 199 flat average was achieved by the MU standout to help the team's chances of qualification for bracket play.

"What a tale of two tournaments!" Rickert exclaimed. "In the Collegiate Shootout, we struggled for two days to find our groove. But the talent we have almost gives us a sense that no matter what happens, we'll be there at the end. Unfortunately, when you play that game of struggling early and relying on a spurt at the end to bring you into the finish, sometimes you get burned and we missed it by one or two opportunities we should have capitalized on earlier. What I want these ladies to know is that when you fall short, you can either blame yourself, blame others or take it as an opportunity to work even harder to make sure you lessen the chance it'll happen again. We're going to go to work after break and come back even stronger with an eye on being our best for the NAIA National Championships in March."

The 17^th-ranked Buffs will now have a break for the next month, as they look forward to a trip to Jeffersontown, Ky. for the MSC Lynne Jordan Memorial (Jan. 24) and the MSC Thomas Burris Memorial (Jan. 25).

Glenn Carlson Invitational Qualifying RESULTS
Glenn Carlson Invitational Bracket Play RESULTS
Collegiate Shoot-out Qualifying RESULTS