FAYETTEVILLE — The Richmond Senior boys and girls bowling teams continued their respective seasons at B&B Bowling Lanes on Thursday for two Sandhills Athletic Conference matchups against Jack Britt and Purnell Swett.
Mitchell Massey led the Raiders to a win over the Rams and a near come-from-behind effort against the Buccaneers, who are among the league’s elite in the early going.
Massey closed out 19 of a possible 24 frames, with 15 of them being strikes.
Richmond (10-10) coach Ralph Butler referred to Massey’s performance as “unbelievable” and added that he moved him to the anchor position because of his “hot hand.”
“The biggest thing we talked about was not so much raising our high scores, but raising our low scores,” said Butler who wanted the group to focus on getting rid of scores in the 90’s and turning them into 120’s.
The Raiders achieved that and narrowly lost to Jack Britt, 601-591, despite a late rally from Massey and Co. Then, the group downed Purnell Swett 507-456 to finish the day.
Cameron Way closed out six of 12 frames, while Hunter Hancock wrapped up five of 12 for the Raiders.
On the girls side, the Lady Radiers weren’t able to come away with a win, falling 591-490 to Jack Britt, then just dropping a close decision to Purnell Swett, 448-435.
Butler says the girls have had similar averages during practice and that he relied on Josie Standridge and Autumn Hoffman because of their experience from last year’s group.
Standridge closed out a team-high eight frames, while Hoffman finished half of her frames, closing out five of 10. Hailey Miller finished six of 12 frames and Amber Henson wrapped up five of 12.
The Lady Raiders (6-14) and the Raiders are both in action again next Thursday at Lafayette Bowling Lanes in Raeford.
