TSSAA Girls' Sectional
Saturday at Cleveland, Tenn.WALKER VALLEY 19, OAKLAND 8Game 1: Oakland, 5-3Highlights: O - Ashlyn Heart 223, Erica Atwood 168, Alexis Campbell 135, Emily Wilson 134. WV - Angel Davis 178, Alexis Rutledge 156, Kara Davison 138, Miia Thompson 136.Game 2: Walker Valley, 6-2Highlights: WV - Rutledge 194, Nicole Hartman 187, Davis 171, Thompson 153, Davidson 150. O - Atwood 222, Michaela Nippers 174, Wilson 162, Campbell 140.Game 3: Walker Valley, 7-1Highlights: WV - Thompson 222, Rutledge 210, Davis 168, Davidson 166, Hartman 144, Megan Cavett 133. O - Atwood 155, Wilson 150, Kat Shattuck 149, Nippers 149, Campbell 137, Heart 136.Total pins (3 pts.): Walker Valley, 2,869-2,694
CLEVELAND, Tenn. -- Forget that they had an unbeaten record to protect. The Lady Mustangs of Walker Valley had a bigger motivation to fight back from a first-game deficit in their state sectional match Saturday against Oakland High School.
And fight back they did, winning 19-8 after falling behind 5-3 in their home center, Leisure Time Bowling. Walker Valley's six bowlers knocked down 845 pins in game one but increased to 981 and 1,043 in 6-2 and 7-1 game victories that sent them to 25-0 and back to Smyrna for this week's state tournament.
Alexis Rutledge and Angel Davis, who with Kara Davidson already had qualified for the individual state tournament Thursday, were 3-0 along with Miia Thompson as the team qualified for the second year in a row. The Lady Mustangs lost in a state quarterfinal in 2014.
A 24-1 season still would've been outstanding, but Davidson admitted she "would've been disappointed" without getting a chance to return to the state event.
"We want to win it, but at least we want to make it further than we did last year," she said.
Davidson, Rutledge and Megan Cavett are seniors and well aware that they will have no more opportunities for state hardware.
"I told the girls that we definitely wanted to win today and go together as a team," Rutledge said. "It would've been a big loss. I'm very thankful that we came out and took care of business today. This was the first day we could lose and go home, and I didn't want to stop here my senior year."
The Lady Mustangs had got off to a better start and totaled more 133 more pins in beating Soddy-Daisy 22-5 in the Region 3 final.
Saturday, Rutledge closed with a 194 and a 210 in sweeping Emily Wilson, Oakland's lone individual state qualifier, and Thompson surged to a 222 and an 85-pin win in her third game. Davis was consistent with a 178-171-168 series.
The Murfreesboro school's Ashlyn Heart rolled a 223 in her first game against Nicole Hartman, but Hartman responded in the next game with a 187 and won the matchup 2-1. And Erica Atwood had a second-game 222 for the visitors but couldn't beat Davidson in game three.
"Having the 'home-field' advantage is tremendous," Walker Valley coach Dean Anderson said, noting his thanks for the turnout and enthusiastic support from other students and school administrators as well as the bowlers' family members and friends, "but it will definitely help (in Smyrna) that these girls have been there before."
All six Lady Mustangs starters were at state last year, and Davidson agreed that could make a difference.
"You can barely walk, there's so many people, and they're all screaming," she said. "To have already gone is great experience."
That also helps with the lanes themselves and the oil pattern used for the state tournament.
Anderson's boys' team was state runner-up last year and visits top-ranked Columbia Central in a sectional Monday. McMinn County's boys upset the Mustangs in the region final and will host Tullahoma at Classic Lanes in Athens.
Columbia hosted Soddy-Daisy in another girls' sectional Saturday.
Contact Ron Bush at rbush@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6291.