By Megan Kelley

Review Writer

Lake Orion High School’s girls varsity bowling team came out victorious after dominating the West Bloomfield Lakers to a score of 28-2 on Monday night.

The league match puts the Dragons in first place in the OAA Red with a 4-0 record, 5-1 overall.

Lake Orion has had its fair share of strong female bowlers in the past few years with a handful signing college letters of intent.

This year, the team retains some depth coming off a perfect 12-0 season last year.

“We have two girls that signed (letters of intent to bowl in college), that’s Teagan Mcauliffe and Grace Tefend,” O’Neill said.

Other bowlers to look for are freshman Paige Morris and sophomore Kalie Harris.

“The four of them are kind of bunched up in average,” said Head Coach Dennis O’Neill. “So, I think we can do well.”

The Dragons hit a roadblock at the very beginning of their season with a close loss to Farmington High School 17-13.

“We bowled against the hardest team on the first day which was Farmington. Their star player shot a 300 at the first game and a 256 in the second game. So, they kind of trounced us the first day,” O’Neill said. “After that we’ve done okay.”

Since that loss, the ladies have taken home the win against every other team with dominating performances against Avondale (30-0), Clarkston (28-2), Athens (30-0) and their recent win against West Bloomfield.

However, the view from the top of the OAA Red can only be maintained by defeating the Oxford High School Wildcats who are currently holding second place in the division with a 3-0 record.

“We’re playing Oxford in the middle of March, and that’s for our Senior Night also,” said O’Neill. “Oxford is the team to beat and if we’re going to do well in our division then we have to beat Oxford. We just have to do everything, from now to then, to be prepared for it.”

The Dragons are scheduled to take on the Wildcats in the fight for the OAA Red on March 11 at Collier Lanes.

As sports continue throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been several adjustments that have been made including the limitation of spectators and the requirement to wear masks while participating in sports activities. But the one that has seemed to cause a good amount of stress has been the compacted season. While most sports are playing as many as four games a week, bowling is no exception.

“I would have really liked to have started the season on schedule so I could have worked with these guys to help them become better players but because of the COVID virus and the lack of practice,” said O’Neill.

The Lake Orion bowling program, especially during these harder times has been strongly supported by Doug O’Berry, the athletic director at Collier Lanes where the Dragons have their home matches.

O’Neill noted that he looks forward to the future of the bowling program at LOHS and hopes to bring the sport to the middle school level someday.

The ladies take on Southfield High School at home on Thursday.