Girls bowling: Lockport edges Joliet West for third straight IHSA state title

ROCKFORD – All season the Lockport girls bowling team was on top. The Porters won 10 of the 11 tournaments they were in through the sectional as they aimed for another state championship.

So when they trailed by 161 pins and were in fifth place after the first day of the state tournament, coach Lynda Siezega didn’t mince words.

“Friday night we had a meeting to discuss how we felt,” Siezega said. “I told them how we didn’t pick up some makable spares and left 260 pins out on the lanes. I told them we know how to pick up spares. So do we want to go home as a state champion or a loser?”

Lockport went home as a state champion.

In a fantastic local battle for the ages, the Porters (11,975) edged Joliet West (11,942) by 33 pins in a matchup that came down to the final frame Saturday at The Cherry Bowl in Rockford.

It’s Lockport’s third straight state championship, seventh overall, tying the Porters with Harlem for the most in state history. Lockport also became the second team to win three straight.

The 33-pin margin was the smallest since Andrew beat Minooka by 22 pins in 2012. The Porters trailed Joliet West by 17 pins going into the last game.

“I’m just so proud of how we all picked each other up,” Lockport senior Morgan LiCausi said. “We showed our ability and persevered through everything,”

LiCausi had been the team leader most of the season. She came through again with a 2,691 two-day series. That placed her second individually.

“It’s 100% that the team winning it is more important,” LiCausi said. “The team means everything to me.”

In the final frame of her final high school game, Licausi had three straight strikes to finish with a 246 in the sixth game. She had a high of 278 in the third game which helped the Porters to their high of 1,099. That also moved them from 203 pins behind Harlem to 123 entering the afternoon session.

Abby Miller bowled a 2,490 for 12th place and Paige Matiasek at 2,457 for 15th.

“We knew we had to push through, and it’s such a good feeling,” Miller said. “All we wanted to do was to make history at Lockport, and we did.”

For Joliet West, it was an outstanding effort by a team that only had three seniors. The Tigers, who were in first after Friday, shot a 1,002 in the fifth game to vault past Harlem and into the lead. In the last game, a 923, the Tiger’s lowest score of the tourney didn’t help. But in the end, there were only smiles and satisfaction of an amazing season and a second-place trophy, their second in the sport.

Malaya Chavez bowled a 2,577 total for fourth place and Maddie Millsaps 2,558 for sixth.

“Everything about it is outstanding,” Chavez said. “We were an amazing team this year. We are a bundle of joy and a riot. It was surreal to get in the Top 10 as an individual. But being a teammate is more important to me than being an individual.”

Millsaps agreed and was so glad to cap her high school career like this.

“Last year we came here [to state] and finished 18th,” she said. “So I just wanted to come here and give it my all. Today was the best I ever bowled. We wanted to get first, and of course, we are a little disappointed.

“But we were there. We have an inseparable bond between us, and it was an incredible season.”

Individually, St. Charles East senior Lida Burgos won the title by 72 pins over LiCausi. On Saturday, Burgos shot 1,459 to finish with 2,763 total. She had a lucky 777 in the morning, which included a 287 in the opener.

She was there as the only representative for the Saints at state.

“My cousin, Edgar Burgos, won the boys state title in 2019,” Burgos said. “I liked bowling as an individual here since it was all on me.”

Burgos said her bowling ball carried her through, literally.

“I was using the Wolverine on Friday,” she said. “But I used ‘the One’ today. It was the one. I felt a lot more comfortable, and it was carrying a lot better.”

What a way to cap off her high school career as Burgos captured first in her final three tournaments. She won the Kaneland Regional (1,264), the Dundee-Crown Sectional (1,391) and now the State Finals. She was fourth after the first day but quickly moved up.

“I did not imagine it,” said Burgos, who will continue her bowling career at St. Xavier University. “I placed 11th at state last year (2,453) and this season I just wanted to place in the Top 10. My mindset was really good, and any time I needed to I calmed down.”

Oswego senior Lani Breedlove was in first (1,323) following the opening day with scores of 255, 257, and 256 in her first three games. She finished with a 2,549 and medaled in seventh place.

Oswego bowled an 11,633 for fifth place.

“Yesterday I started great and then lost some carry,” said Breedlove, who will continue to bowl at the University of Nebraska. “But I had a great four years, and I’m real proud of my performance. I was a regional champion (1,277 at Bolingbrook) and sectional champion (1,385 at Oswego East).

“I was just staying in the moment, putting in the work and keeping moving forward. I wanted to finish higher than we did with the team and get a trophy, but I’m still happy to medal.”

LaSalle-Peru was sixth (11,496) and Minooka seventh (11,433). LaSalle-Peru senior Christine Ricci (13th, 2,486) just missed a medal by four pins. She had a high of 277 in the opening game of the tournament Friday and was in sixth (1,293) after the first day.