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HENDERSON, Nev.- Shannon O'Keefe and her Team USA teammates entered the 2010 Pan American Bowling Confederation Women's Championships with their sights set on the team gold medal, and they accomplished their goal at Sunset Station Hotel and Casino's Strike Zone Bowling Center in suburban Las Vegas on Thursday.

The Team USA women posted a 6,267 six-game total and claimed the coveted title for the 13th time in the 15 years the five-player team event has been part of the PABCON Women's Championships.

After building a significant lead through four games, Team USA stumbled to an 897 total in Game 5, which put Venezuela and Canada just 39 and 61 pins away heading into the final game.

Left-hander Shannon Pluhowsky started the finale with seven consecutive strikes and helped Team USA cruise into the top spot with a 1,105 effort. Columbia also finished strong and moved around Venezuela and Canada to take the silver medal with a 6,090 total. Canada finished third with 6,068.

 

 

"There was never a doubt that we were going to fire back after the fifth game," said O'Keefe, who paced the team with a 1,283 total. "We all have the talent and confidence in our games and each other to move past something like that and get moving in the right direction. We started the last game off strong, and it was just coasting from there. This is the one that means the most, and we're excited."

Liz Johnson added 1,261 to the winning-effort and was followed by Pluhowsky (1,254), Kelly Kulick (1,226), Stefanie Nation (642) and Tennelle Milligan (601).

The group added two more medals Thursday as Johnson and Kulick finished first and second in the all-events standings. Johnson earned the gold with a 5,241 total for 24 games, while Kulick had 5,197. Mexico's Sandra Gongora battled back from a disappointing singles event to claim the bronze with 5,190.

"Today was a bit of a grind, but we stuck together as a team and hung in there," Johnson said. "It was a tough four days, but I was pretty consistent. I didn't have anything too low, or real high. The team event was the most important event for us, but to get the all-events gold and trios bronze is special, too. Tomorrow's Masters is just icing on the cake."

Pluhowsky finished fifth in all-events with 5,130, and O'Keefe was seventh with 5,124, while Nation was 19th at 4,930, and Milligan was 23rd with 4,848.

With 24 games in the books, the top 16 players from the all-events standings advance to Masters match play Friday beginning at 1 p.m. Eastern.

The 2010 PABCON Women's Championships featured 60 competitors from 13 countries competing for medals in six events - five-player team, trios, doubles, singles, all-events and Masters match play.

USBC is providing wire-to-wire live streaming coverage of the event on BOWL.com.