ALTOONA, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona women's bowling team finished its weekend in the Saint Francis University Red Flash Invitational on a strong note Sunday at Holiday Bowl, going 2-0 to move up the standings and finish in 11th place out of 13 teams.

Over three days, Penn State Altoona bowled 64 total games and compiled a team pinfall of 8,260 while going 2-9 in head-to-head matches. The Lions finished ahead of two Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference opponents, as Pitt-Greensburg came in 12th place and Mount Aloysius College took 13th place.

Penn State Altoona's two wins on the day represented its first victories of the 2021-22 campaign. They also marked the first career wins for first-year head coach Elizabeth Rhodes.

"I am so proud of how the girls battled back at the lanes today. They had the determination to improve as a team," said Rhodes. "Everyone helped pick each other up if they had a bad frame, finishing today off with two wins to take 11th in the tournament. The coaching staff is proud of each of them."

Morgan State University won the invitational, while host school St. Francis was the runner-up. Walsh University placed third.

Sunday's round consisted of bracket play, with the format being best-of-seven baker matches. The Lions competed in two matches on the day, winning them both by final scores of 4-1.

After a bye in the first round of the bracket, Penn State Altoona took on nearby AMCC foe Mount Aloysius in the second round for the Lions' first match of the day. The Mounties took a 1-0 lead with a 133-94 victory in the first game, but Penn State Altoona reeled off four straight wins by scores of 134-130, 126-115, 139-125, and 134-113 to pick up its first victory of the season.

In its second and final match of the day, the Lions faced AMCC opponent Pitt-Greensburg with a chance to move one more spot up the team leaderboard. Penn State Altoona opened the match with a 133-118 win in the first game, but Pitt-Greensburg evened the score with a 133-126 victory in the second game. However, the Lions won the next three games – including their two highest scores of the day – by 133-106, 143-135, and 153-123 decisions to defeat the Bobcats and wrap up 11th place in the standings.

Penn State Altoona women's bowling returns to conference play next weekend, when the Lions will compete in the second and final regular season AMCC round robin tournament. The event will be hosted by Pitt-Bradford on Saturday, February 5 at 12:00 p.m. and Sunday, February 6 at 9:00 a.m.

"We hope to keep up the good bowling and take this motivation to next week for the AMCC round robin number two," said Rhodes.

Fans and spectators will not be permitted in person at next weekend's AMCC round robin due to COVID-19 protocols, as announced earlier this week by Pitt-Bradford. Live coverage of both days will be provided online by the hosts.