Bittner notches runner-up finish, Evans fifth, Rearick seventh; SSU women's bowling finishes as AHBA Event No. 3 Runner-Up

SANDUSKY, Ohio -- With the loss of multi-year letterwinners and key bowling standouts Chloe Long and Skylar Lane from the 2023-24 Shawnee State women's bowling roster, some had SSU women's bowling in for a rebuilding year.

It's safe to say that after Saturday's performance at the American Heartland Bowling Association's (AHBA) Event No. 3, the Bears are ahead of schedule.

Olyvia Bittner knocked down a strong 768 points to finish as the American Heartland Bowling Association's individual runner-up, while freshman Onesti Evans and senior Hannah Rearick added in excellent outings in their own right, finishing fifth and seventh as individuals to lead the Bears to a fantastic runner-up showing, with the Shawnee State women's bowling program dropping 5,040 pins in Saturday's competition to finish second in the nine-team field at Cedar Lanes in Sandusky, Ohio.

The Rundown

In collecting 5,040 pins Saturday, the Bears were one of just two teams in the entire field to drop over 5,000 pins for the tournament. Shawnee State fell to the eventual team champion, Davenport (Iowa), by just 61 pins through four individual games plus Baker contests.

Bittner, who has enjoyed a strong senior season throughout the first three events of the year, averaged 192 pins per rack to set up her second place finish. Bittner dropped 189 pins in Game 2, 192 markers in Game 3 and nabbed the second-best individual game of the entire event with a massive 236-pin delivery in Game 4. She was just one of four players in the field of 52 to drop more than 750 pins on the day.

Evans, who posted a 744-pin total over her four games, posted the third-best individual score of the event by dropping a massive 227-pin count in Game 3, while adding in marks of 182 and 184 pins in Games 2 and 4, respectively. The Washington Court House product's total average amounted to 186 pins per rack off of her own impressive performance.

Rearick, who like Bittner has enjoyed a strong senior season to this point, amassed 724 pins over her four-game output to average 181 pins per frame. Rearick dropped 185 markers in Game 1, 190 pins in Game 3 and 180 notches in Game 4 to claim seventh, and was the last individual bowler to post over 700 pins in the field.

With its performance, Shawnee State bettered Olivet Nazarene (Ill.), Adrian (Mich.), Alma (Mich.), Bowling Green, Kent State, Kent State-Tuscarawas and Erie Community College in the nine-team field.

Along with Bittner, Evans and Rearick, Morgan Higgins, Emma Billenstein, Maria Mara and Brooklyn Foose also competed for the Shawnee State women on Saturday.

Additional

Shawnee State will be back in action next weekend at the two-day Raider Classic -- which will be held at the Beaver-Vu Bowl in Beavercreek, Ohio and Poelking Lanes in Dayton, Ohio on Saturday, Nov. 9 and Sunday, Nov. 10. Updates throughout will follow at www.ssubears.com and on the below social media outlets.