Girls singles finals champion Sara Harvey of the Ishpeming-Negaunee team, right, stands with I-N coach Mike Wilkins at Dome Lanes in Marinette, Wis., after Harvey won the Upper Peninsula Bowling Conference tournament title on Saturday following a grueling 14-game marathon on the lanes. (Photo courtesy Maria Virch)

MARINETTE, Wis. — Sara Harvey outdueled Olivia Letson in an all-River Rock Lanes-based championship match of the girls singles finals held by the Upper Peninsula Bowling Conference on Saturday.

Though both finals athletes bowl out of the same Ishpeming center, Harvey is a member of the Ishpeming-Negaunee team while Letson comes from the Westwood High School squad.

A field of 61 girls from schools all around the UPBC converged on Dome Lanes in Marinette, Wisconsin, just over the Michigan border from event host Menominee.

All 61 competitors rolled three games, with the field cut to 36 for another three games of qualifying.

Then the format changed dramatically to match play, with the top 16 bowlers advancing to a seeded bracket based on the original six games. Two-game knockout matches allowed winners to advance until Harvey and Letson emerged after three rounds for the finals.

With the two-game, total-pins match victory in the title match of 336-298, Harvey had a dominating day, averaging 156.9 over 14 games she bowled all in a single day.

She opened with the highest three-game and six-game qualifying scores of 512 and 998, respectively, her six-game average being 166.3 on games of 202, 149, 161, 148, 154 and 184.

That gave Harvey the coveted No. 1 seed into match play. She opened against the final qualifier, No. 16 Chloe Roell of Iron Mountain, and won the two-game match 331-273.

She continued on against No. 8 Lucy La Cross of Calumet, winning that one in a low-scoring 258-217 match.

That put Harvey in the semifinals, where she overcame No. 12 Haylie Duquette of Calumet 274-267 to reach the finals.

Letson had a more modest 11th-place finish in qualifying with 833 on games of 114, 151, 114, 157, 145 and 152.

As the No. 11 seed, she faced No. 6 Fara Bjork of Westwood in her opening match as Letson prevailed 308-298.

Letson then took on No. 14 Marissa Campbell of IM and won that one 336-213 to advance to the semis.

In that last match before the finals, Letson took on No. 7 Willow Rexford of L’Anse and emerged with a 426-275 victory to reach the finale.

A majority of nine girls from area schools made the 16-bowler cut to match play — four girls from Westwood, two from I-N, two from L’Anse and one from Marquette.

Match play also included three athletes from IM, two from Calumet, one from Escanaba and one from Menominee.

The Patriots’ Averie Vial was the No. 2 qualifier with 980 on games of 132, 177, 192, 147, 177 and 155 as she had a lead of two pins for the No. 1 spot entering the last game.

Alaina Eagle of Ishpeming was No. 3 with 942 on games of 189, 154, 135, 159, 165 and 140, while Marquette’s Hayden Schetter made it a top-four sweep for Marquette County bowlers, qualifying No. 4 with 940 on her games of 137, 158, 175, 125, 179 and 166.

Westwood’s Bjork was sixth with 883, Rexford of L’Anse seventh with 876, Julianne Yohe of Westwood ninth with 835, Autumn Penokie of L’Anse 10th with 834 and Letson 11th.

Other than the two finalists, Rexford advanced the furthest of any area bowler by reaching the semifinals. At No. 7, she opened with a 284-222 win over her teammate Penokie, then won a 266-210 decision over No. 15 Alizabeth Richtig of IM.

No. 4 Schetter opened match play with a 326-301 win over No. 13 Melanie Franke of Menominee before falling to No. 12 Duquette of Calumet 325-307.

Knocked out in their opening matches were No. 2 Vial of Westwood, 273-255 to No. 15 Richtig of IM; No. 3 Eagle of I-N, 279-270 to No. 14 Campbell of IM; No. 6 Bjork of Westwood, 308-298 to No. 11 Letson; No. 9 Yohe of Westwood, 327-255 to No. 8 La Cross of Calumet; and No. 10 Penokie of L’Anse, 284-222 to No. 7 Rexford of L’Anse.

The highest-finishing area bowler to miss the match-play cut was No. 22 Natalie Laramore of L’Anse, who totaled 719 to miss 16th place by 44 pins.

Also making the first three-game cut to bowl all six games of qualifying was Hailey Smail of Westwood in 23rd with 718, Hannah Wilson of L’Anse 26th with 689, Autumn Durant of L’Anse 27th with 685, Bella Grafton of L’Anse 29th with 670, Hailey Rautio of Westwood 30th with 667, and Laci Numinen of L’Anse and Rosalyn Bonin of Westwood tied for 32nd, each with 659.

Three area bowlers just missed the 36-bowler first cut — Rylan Foisie of I-N was 37th with a three-game total of 330, Isabelle Moebius of Westwood 38th with 325, and Annabelle Stakvel of I-N tied for 39th with 323.

The UPBC will hold another similarly-formatted boys singles finals on Saturday at Recreation Lanes in Iron Mountain, with the conference season to wrap up with the team finals for both boys and girls squads on Saturday, Feb. 14, at River Rock Lanes in Ishpeming.

Story contents based on email received from Marquette assistant bowling coach Maria Virch. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.