Pontiac Times

Lake Orion Community Schools issued the following announcement on Jan 21.

Held at Cherry Hill Lanes North in Clarkston on January 16, the Lake Orion Dragons girls’ bowling team took home the Oakland County Championship in a field of 18 schools.

This was the 17th edition of this countywide event and the fourth time the Dragons have finished in first place. On top of these four victories, Lake Orion has recorded a pair of runner-up finishes, securing their place as one of the county’s top programs.

In the opening round, the Dragons ran past Bishop Foley, 338-214, and topped North Farmington, 373-279, in the quarterfinals.

With the field down to four teams by the point, the action became extremely tight in the semifinals as Lake Orion edged South Lyon by a single pin, 349-348. Surviving this intense battle, the Dragons rounded out their day by defeating Farmington Hills Mercy, 342-301, to claim the championship.

Making this victory even more special was the team aspect of the day, as all six bowlers contributed to the victory and Lake Orion did not record a single gutter ball in the event.

Junior Ella Terenzi led the way by finishing in second place individually with a three-game score of 626, including the day’s high game of 277. Fellow junior Kalie Harris (538) and senior left-hander Faith Washington (530), who serves as the team captain, also finished in the top-10, slotting in sixth and eighth, respectively.

While these three Dragons were the team’s highest scores, sophomore Paige Morris was perhaps the day’s hero, hitting a pivotal 1-2-4-10 spare in the one-pin victory over South Lyon.

If Morris does not convert this shot, the Lyons would have been facing the Marlins for the team championship, not Lake Orion.

“That was the spare of the day,” head coach Denny O’Neill said.

“Paige is a good player, and I coached her before high school. Over the summer, I had a clinic in the offseason, and I coached her there at least one year, maybe two. She was at ease, she threw the washout, ball didn’t finish the way she wanted, and she was composed.

“She then got up to make the spare, threw a quality shot, and the ball moved Brooklyn, took out the 1-2 and the 1 hits the 10 like it should. She did a great shot, and everybody was elated. We didn’t know that it was going to be a one-pin spread at that time, we just knew that it was going to be close.”

O’Neill is in his 16th season as the head coach of the Dragon girls and has been coaching for decades throughout the United States. A Gold Level Professional Coach, his experience and knowledge have paid dividends in the girls’ preparation and attention to detail, and this is particularly true in the case of Terenzi.

“She’s growing,” the coach began. “With Ella, she has a repeatable shot, she’s loose, she stays happy and she’s able to throw shots. She’s got potential, I like what she does, and in that 277 game, she didn’t let the pressure of it get to her at all.

“One of the things I do is, over the year, I collect bowling balls from all the different leagues I bowl in, all the guys donate balls to support the program and I take them to Collier Lanes and I give the girls first shot and have them pick out balls that I think would help her as an individual. I put Ella (Terenzi) and Paige (Morris) into specific bowling balls, and the one I put Ella into is the one she scored her 277 with and she’s been scoring well with that ball.”

Up next, the Dragons will compete in the North Farmington Early Bird Tournament on Saturday, January 22.

Due to the characteristics of Collier Lanes – the program’s home alley – O’Neill feels good about the team’s prospects entering Saturday.

“I think that we have a bit of an advantage, it’s a wood house, wood approaches, wood lanes, and that’s the same as Collier Lanes and that’s what we work on all the time,” he said.

“It won’t be different, whereas teams that practice on synthetic lanes in their home and they go to wood lanes.”

Saturday will be the 15th Annual Early Bird Tournament and the action will take place at Novi Bowl, 21700 Novi Road. Traditionally, this event is held in the first week of December – hence its name – but was postponed roughly a month-and-a-half this year due to concerns over the coronavirus (COVID-19).

Original source can be found here.