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TOWSON, Md. (Feb. 10, 2023)--The James Brown Invitational is the home event for the Morgan State Lady Bears bowling team. On Friday the Lady Bears came out firing their first four matches taking the overall lead in the tournament after Matches 3 and 4.
 
Scoring cooled in the fifth match, but Morgan State still stands in second place after Day 1's Baker rounds.
 
Highlights of Friday's 5 Traditional Game Matches:
-Morgan State averaged 197.3 in Friday's Baker Round.
-In match 3 against Bryant, the Lady Bears shot a season high Baker game of 276 in Game 5.
-Aliya Adams rolled a Baker Frame Average of 21.08 for 50 frames.
 
Friday's Baker Matches:
#24 Morgan State 982, Bye                                                                                                                 
Morgan State had the Bye round in Match 1. It saw consistent scoring in the first four games (213-190-206-210), en route to a 982 first round score. Natalia Miranda Vega led all striking with seven strikes in the match, followed by Johnna Hill and La'Monique Berrios who each struck six times and Aliya Adams striking five times. Berrios had no opens in Match 1 and Carrington Beaman filled nine out of her 10 frames.
 
#24 Morgan State 970, Howard 747
The next match saw a balanced attack by the Bears and one big game in Game 4 with a 244 to power them past the Bison in Match 2. Aliya Adams filled nine out of her 10 frames, and led the striking with six strikes along with La'Monique Berrios who had the same number of strikes. Natalia Miranda Vega and Johnna Hill each had five strikes and Carrington Beaman fired four strikes in Match 2.
 
#24 Morgan State 1,108, Bryant 845          
Morgan State was firing on all cylinders in Match 3 against Bryant. After grabbing the lead after four games with games of 199-179-244-210, Naomi Smith and Cheyenne Washington came into the line-up. In Game 5 ran off the first eight strikes in a row en route to a 276 game and an 1,108 series. Smith struck both frames she was in and Washington added a strike and two filled frames. Natalia Miranda Vega led all striking with 14 strikes from the anchor position. Berrios and Adams each struck six times, Beaman adding four strikes and Hill striking three times. Miranda Vega filled 10 out of 10 frames in the match.
 
#24 Morgan State 1,025, Alabama A&M, 892
The Morgan State ladies kept scoring up against Alabama A&M. They highlighted the match with a 231 and 217 game in which all seven Lady Bears again saw the lanes in this match. La'Monique Berrios and Aliya Adams filled nine out of the10 frames. Beaman struck six times in the match to lead the Bears, Adams, Berrios and Hill all struck five times, Washington filled four out of the four frames she bowled and Smith filled three out of the four frames with two strikes.
 
#24 Morgan State 848, Coppin State 932              
In the final round of the day, Morgan State faced their cross town rivals the Coppin State Lady Eagles. In a match only separated by seven pins after two games, the Lady Bears could not find the fire they had in previous matches to match Coppin's scoring from the third through five games. Aliya Adams led the Bears with seven strikes, followed by Berrios with four strikes.
 
Morgan State has a total pinfall after Day 1 of 4,933 for a 197.3 average for their five-game Baker play. The Lady Bears are only 58 pins behind #6 North Carolina A&T who has a pinfall of 4,991 and a 199.6 average.
 
Here are the Baker Averages for Morgan State for Friday's matches:
Aliya Adams 21.08, Johnna Hill 19.85, La'Monique Berrios 19.72, Cheyenne Washington 19.2, Carrington Beaman, 19.06 Natalia Miranda Vega 18.79, Naomi Smith 17.75
 
Coach Falbo thoughts after Day 1: "The scoring level is elevating for our ladies as the hard work they are putting in is paying off. To score consistently high like they did through four matches to put themselves at the top of the leaderboard was the result of some excellent bowling. We learned about the late day transition which we will respond to better tomorrow and look forward to our traditional matches."
 
Tomorrow has the Lady Bears will play in five matches in traditional game play on Day 2 at the James Brown Invitational at AMF Towson Lanes in Towson. Md.