SOUTH BELOIT — Hononegah junior bowler Emilee Mullranin was on a roll at last Saturday’s IHSA Rockford East Regional.
In fact, her really only bad frame came days earlier, in practice.
“I rammed my ankle (with the ball),” she said. “I never do that. But I did, and I had to bowl with a pretty bad bruise.”
It didn’t seem to bother her a bit as she averaged 202, shooting a 1,227 score that helped Hononegah finish second in the event at Don Carter Lanes. As one of the top four teams, the Indians advanced to the Sycamore Sectional this Saturday at Mardi Gras Lanes in DeKalb.
Head coach Jeremy Woody is trying to guide the Indians back to state with a good nucleus off a team that won regionals and sectionals a year ago and finished eighth in the big dance.
That team lost three seniors to graduation, including both Emilee Mullranin’s older sister Katelin and Cassidy Davenport’s older sister Madison, along with senior Samantha Sweeney.
“This is the first time in six years I haven’t had a set of sisters on the team,” Woody said before practice Monday at Viking Lanes. “We lost three strong players and they are hard to replace, but we have progressed really well. We had a few come up as freshmen and a few others from the junior varsity deliver for us.”
“We gelled together,” said Davenport, a senior. “Every team has some rough spots, but we always get through everything and we’re best friends at the end of the day.”
Saturday, the Indians ended up with a score of 5,699 pins to trail only Harlem (6,081). Rockford Guilford (5,495) and Rockford East (5,459) also advanced to the sectional.
“We averaged about 190 which has been our pace for tournaments for the year,” Woody said. “Emilee set a hot pace for her. She has been struggling a little, but got some new equipment, a couple of new balls, and has been coming on. Saturday, she found the line with that new ball and just stayed with it.”
Emilee bowls in the leadoff position of the five-girl team. Davenport is the fifth and anchor bowler. Both love their roles.
“Leadoff is a good spot for me,” Mullranin said. “I’m a fast-paced bowler and I like to get us going.”
“When we start with Emilee we’re usually going to start with something good,” Davenport said. “But even if she threw a bad ball she’s not going to get all upset about it. She’s going to tell the team to pick her up. I like being the anchor. As the fifth bowler I get to end the frame, hopefully on a positive note.”
Davenport wasn’t satisfied with her own score at the regional. She averaged 207 during the NIC-10 season and was around 192 for regionals. Rounding out Hononegah’s scorers were freshman Riley Flaningam (1,165), Davenport (1,153), senior Piper Ennett (1,114) and junior Kailyn Davis (1,055).
“Tournaments are hard,” Woody said. “You’re bowling six games, the lane conditions change. There are different things that go on over the course of a day.”
Davenport was a little harder on herself and is ready to regroup for sectionals.
“I’m not going to blame it on the lane conditions,” she said. “I personally didn’t throw the ball my best. 207 is a pretty good average. I was shooting to be in the top five in conference and I got that. Now going to state is my next hope. It’s my senior year and I want it to end well. We’re hoping to place at state and get a medal.”
Woody would love a sectional win, too, but he’ll settle for a top-three spot.
“There is no reason we shouldn’t make it to state,” he said. “The top four teams and top five individuals not on a qualifying team this weekend will advance to state. I’d like to win the sectional like last year, but second or third, I’d definitely take that, looking at all the scores from the teams in the regionals feeding our sectional.”
Mulrannin heads to sectionals with a lot of momentum and a bruise that is healing.
“I like bowling in tournaments and I like to set my goals high,” she said. “I’d love to average 220 and win it all.”
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