The Girls Preparatory School bowling team was down 11-5 and 86 pins after the first two games of its TSSAA Division II state quarterfinal match Friday at the Smyrna Bowling Center.
Then came the game coach David McGowan had been looking for all season from a team that returned only one starter, Blakely Reid, from the 2015-16 Bruisers.
GPS won game three 7-1 with a 114-pin margin, enough for the three overall bonus points and a 15-12 victory. Cora Long and Tia Kemp rolled 190s and Emily Large and Reid bowled 167 and 166 in the deciding game, Long with two strikes in the 10th frame to win her head-to-head match.
That put the Bruisers (9-10) in the semifinals this morning at 10 EST. Joining them there are the Rhea County girls (24-0) after a 15-12 win of their own in the Division I quarterfinals, over Blackman (13-2), and the Tullahoma boys (18-4) following a 14-13, two-pin win over Nashville Overton (17-1) in Division I.
McCallie (18-2) lost 18.5-8.5 to Ezell-Harding in Division II.