LAS VEGAS - When you're having a good time on the lanes at the United States Bowling Congress Women's Championships, sometimes a big performance in the final frame can get lost among the laughter.

For the members of Wyoming Wild Bunch of Thermopolis, Wyoming, and Selena Fabricius of Burlington, Wyoming, and Debbie Smith of Emmett, Idaho, the good times at the South Point Bowling Plaza translated to strong finishes and moves to the top of the leaderboard Thursday.

Wyoming Wild Bunch turned in a consistent performance and improved each game to take the lead in Sapphire Team, while Fabricius and Smith had a clutch 10th frame to sneak into the Topaz Doubles lead.

Led by Ella Parker's 609 series, Wyoming Wild Bunch rolled games of 623, 632 and 647 for a 1,902 total. McGuire Construction of Esbon, Kansas, previously held the top spot with 1,890.

Parker was joined Thursday by Jessica Slagle (582) and first-time USBC Women's Championships participants Shawna Baumeister (430) and Hope Gebes (281).

"Jessica and I have been bowling together for the last five years," Parker said. "Hope works at my office, so we asked her to join, and Shawna used to bowl with us before moving away. We just said we were going to Nationals. We always have fun, whether it's good, bad or ugly on the lanes and just have a good time together."

The good time and better performance crossed paths as Parker, the team's anchor bowler, rolled a strike on the first shot of her 10th frame to secure the lead.

Now, the members of Wyoming Wild Bunch get to wait and see if their score is enough to get their name on a championship trophy to be presented during the 2017 Women's Championships in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

"We did pretty decent at state, so we had some momentum from that," Parker said. "It would be awesome to walk into Baton Rouge as a champion. We'll just have to keep our fingers crossed."

Fabricius and Smith did not have much room to work with stepping up in the final frame, hoping to reach the leading total of 914 posted by Judy Moreman and Rosalinda Walker of Danville, Illinois, but Smith delivered a double to get things started. Fabricius, needing a mark to give the pair the lead, converted a 10 pin and connected on a strike to push their final tally to 920.

Fabricius led the way with a 476 series, and Smith added 444.

The 2016 Women's Championships served as the host to a new friendship for Fabricius and Smith, who met for the first time on the championship lanes at South Point.

"One of the ladies who was supposed to bowl with us couldn't make it, so Lois (Shirran) asked Debbie, her sister, to bowl," said Fabricius, who made her seventh Women's Championships appearance. "I just met Debbie for the first time, and it's been so much fun. We've had a great time. We're going to have to have her come back next year."

Smith made her tournament debut this year in Las Vegas and hopes the surprise of taking the lead matches what it would feel like to take home a national title in her first attempt.

"I like surprises, so finding out that we took the lead was a fantastic surprise," Smith said. "I'm just going to wait for someone to let us know if we ended up winning or not. For my first year, I really enjoyed it. We're here to have fun, and it's been fantastic."

Sapphire Team includes four-player teams with combined entering averages of 574 and below.

Topaz Doubles features bowlers with combined entering averages of 259 and below.

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