Chesterfield, Mo. – The Columbia College women's bowling team competed in the NAIA Unaffiliated Grouping Conference Tournament over the weekend. 
 
The teams competed in 24 baker qualifying games on Saturday to begin the action. The Cougars were as high as third and fell as low as seventh before settling in as the 5th-seed.
 
As the 5th-seed, the Cougars took on 4th-seeded St. Xavier in the opening round of bracket play. The two teams tied game one (166-166) and game three (188-188), with the Cougars winning game two (174-167) and game four (152-149). Since bracket play is a race to three points, the Cougars received half a point for each tie, bringing their total to three points and securing the opening round win on Saturday afternoon. 
 
Sunday morning, Columbia bowled against (3) St. Francis, dropping three-straight (224-213, 188-175, and 190-150), dropping the Cougars to the consolation bracket. 
 
In the consolation bracket, Columbia faced Missouri Baptist. The two squads tied game one (166-166). The Cougars won game two (172-152) and put together a great match three, winning 224-178. The Spartans regrouped and won the next two games, 196-177 and 179-156, to force a game six. The final match was close throughout, but MBU game out on top 210-196 to advance, while the tournament came to an end for the Cougars. 
 
On the weekend, Columbia averaged 180.9 over 37 baker games, one of the highest averages of the season. 
 
SCAD Savannah (GA.) defeated St. Francis in the championship game to earn an automatic bid to the NAIA National Championship.
 
The Cougars will say goodbye to two graduating seniors who saw their collegiate career come to an end. Katyn Fischer and Katie Leonard have been vital pieces to the Cougar bowling program over the course of four years. Both rank in the top-two in CC bowling history in total career pins, career average, and career games bowled. 
 
Fisher – 1st in career total pins (24,646), 1st in career average (172), and 1st in total games bowled (143). 
 
Leonard – 2nd in career total pins (22,742), 2nd in career average (167), and 2nd in total games bowled (136). 
 
Head Coach Damon Helgevold:
"Great weekend in the NAIA UCG Tournament. We let a few shots get away from us late against Missouri Baptist and credit them for taking advantage of our mistakes. All in all a good weekend for us, and hard to be disappointed in averaging 180 across 30 plus games. I certainly wish we could've advanced to the next round because I felt we were hitting our stride on Sunday, similar to how we did later on Saturday. It just didn't go that way, and we'll be better next time.
 
It was a great year, and I'm super thankful for this entire group helping me through my first year. We had some growing pains along the way, but that's to be expected. Our seniors, Katyn and Katie, did a good job leading our team this year and putting their trust in me as the year went on. I couldn't have done it without them. For the team overall, I'm so proud of them. From a group that I took over in August to where we are in February was a massive jump in lane production, energy, attitude, all of it. You name it, and this group got better in said category. As a coach, that's all you can ask for. Sure we didn't achieve everything we set out to do this year, but we became better bowlers and even better people in society. So I'm super happy with how this year turned out.
 
Now the groundwork has been laid. We get to work on next year soon. Have lots of room for growth, and we are going to use this offseason to build, mentally and physically. I'm excited about the future and what it has to offer."