Women’s Bowling finishes fourth at MSC Brandon Bruns Memorial

SMYRNA, Tenn. (October 29, 2023) – The Milligan University women's bowling team finished fourth at the Mid-South Conference Brandon Burns Memorial on Sunday.

The one-day event format included five individual games and a dozen baker games for each team.

The Buffs totaled 6,740 pins, 25 pins behind third-place Cumberland and 106 pins back of tournament runner-up Pikeville.

Allison Robbins finished as the individual runner-up and claimed all-tournament honors with 1,064 total pins (212.8 average) across five games. She rolled three games over 200 pins and saved her best for last with a 256 in her final round.

"Getting a player the caliber of Allison Robbins with her NCAA experience was a huge addition!" said head coach Brian Rickert. "She absolutely crushed the pocket finishing out games four and five and if not for some poor carry in the first couple games could have easily taken the top spot."

Emily Cheesman and Braeton Wilson notched top-25 finishes. Cheesman was 22nd with 923 pins (184.6 average) and Wilson placed 25th with 913 pins (182.6 pins).

Brianna Rickert had an average of 187.75 in four individual games with two games over 200. Taylor Davis had an average of 185.75 with a high of 202 in four games.

The Buffs averaged 176.08 pins in baker action. Milligan exceeded 200 pins three times with a high of 213.

"We showed today that we have ladies who are willing to step up whenever they're needed," said Rickert. "At times it was Allison, then Brianna was the leader, then Emily Cheesman would step up…all the way down the lineup to freshman Emily King. King jumped right in there as a freshman and had some key shots for us in multiple spots. It was definitely a team effort"

Milligan's junior varsity squad topped the five-team JV standings with 6,024 pins to edge Pikeville by 29 pins. Wilson was joined by Molly Burnett, Alexis Wright, Olivia VanHooser and Brooke Smith as top-50 individual finishers.

"I couldn't be prouder of the five freshman ladies that made up our JV team!" said Rickert. "Yesterday, they got a taste of what collegiate bowling is like and both the mental and physical grind it is. They pushed each other and supported one another all day today and outpaced many of the varsity teams. You can't help but smile watching the ladies and the positive energy they have!"

The Buffs head to their first Tier 1 tournament of the season next weekend at the Bowlero Southern Collegiate Classic in Marietta, Ga.