Bowling: Locals excel at Pepsi Louisiana USBC Championship

BOSSIER CITY – Three New Orleans-area bowlers earned titles and five others finished second in their age divisions of the Pepsi Louisiana USBC Championship this weekend at Holiday Lanes.

The girls under-20 final produced an all-local matchup as Academy of Our Lady senior Danielle Poussard defeated Cabrini senior Jaya Jensen in the title match.

Jensen battled through the loser’s bracket and needed to defeat Poussard twice. She won the first match but could not complete the sweep as Poussard, who anchored AOL’s second consecutive state championship team earlier this month, captured her first major individual tournament title.

It marks the second consecutive year an Academy of Our Lady bowler has won the U20 girls title. Poussard’s former AOL teammate and current Mount St. Mary’s University freshman Erin Burkart won last year.

In the U17 division, Archbishop Chapelle sophomore Sarah Rubi defeated Byrd’s Celeste Thedford in the final. It’s the second title this month for Rubi, who won the girls singles title in the LHSAA state championships April 5 in Baton Rouge.

The third New Orleans-area winner this weekend was Alyssa Hunn of Metairie in the U8 division.

Brother Martin senior Cody Schaffer finished second in the U20 division, losing to former Central standout Dylan Ringo in the final. Schaffer, who was one of only three bowlers to average 200 in qualifying, capped a month-long run in which he led the Crusaders to a second straight team title and came back the next day to win the LHSAA boys singles crown.

Other top-two finishes by area bowlers included Schaffer’s Brother Martin teammate, Dylan McDonald, in the U15 boys; Joshua Collins in the U12 boys, and Teassa Haythorn in the U12 girls.

Unlike other tournaments held around the state, youth bowlers had to earn their way into the field by being among the top bowlers in their league on one of two weeks in the fall.