ARLINGTON, Texas (1/29/17) – The Arkansas State women's bowling team registered a fourth-place finish Sunday at the Prairie View A&M Invitational being held at the International Training and Research Center in Arlington, Texas while junior Jordan Richard finished atop the individual standings to win the event's MVP award.

The Red Wolves dropped a 914-895 decision to No. 4 McKendree in the final traditional team match to fall from the top seed to the third seed, but Jordan Richard bowled a 189 to achieve a total pinfall of 1,289 in the six traditional team matches for a 214.83 average that led the individual standings. Jadee Scott-Jones bowled a 206 and Haley Richard posted a 201 as both players finished tied for eighth with a total pinfall of 1,216 and average of 202.67.

“Obviously you have to start with Jordan, she's a great player and keeps doing this every tournament,” A-State head women's bowling coach Justin Kostick said. “There really isn't enough I can say about her and Jadee had the high game for the event yesterday so she did pretty well as did Haley. However, we didn't bowl very well against McKendree and it dropped us in the standings.”

A-State (45-18) had to play second-seeded Nebraska to open up the bracket portion of the event and fell behind 3-0 (177-159, 224-162, 197-167) before recording 193-159 and 213-187 wins to force a game six. However, Nebraska won game six 245-178 to advance to the championship match.

The Red Wolves played McKendree in the third-place match and fell behind 2-0 (201-193, 225-193) before winning game three 211-179. The Bearcats claimed a one-pin win (185-184) in game four and then won game five 269-211 to earn third place and drop A-State to fourth.

“We just came out flat, not much more to say about it,” continued Kostick. “We fell behind to both teams and it's hard to create any momentum when you fall behind 2-0 or 3-0. We battled back into against Nebraska, but it's hard to come back from 3-0 against a team that good. In the McKendree match we were pretty much even because we lost some close ones, but then they bowled really well to finish the match. It's disappointing for sure, but we didn't have a terrible weekend. Now we just have to concentrate on moving forward and get ready for our next tournament.”

Nebraska went on to claim the tournament championship with a 4-0 win over Vanderbilt, after the Commodores defeated McKendree 4-3 to advance to the title match.

The Red Wolves return to the lanes Feb. 10-12 at the Stephen F. Austin Jacks Invitational in Conroe, Texas.