Jacksonville State defeated Arkansas State in a best-of-seven match that went the distance to win the NCAA Division I women’s bowling championship on Saturday. And the Gamecocks did it in the program’s first season.

“We knew years ago that we wanted to give our girls a Division I experience,” JSU coach Shannon O’Keefe said. “The entire administration just embraced us and believed in us from the very beginning. The overwhelming amount of support that we are getting, not only at the university but in the community, it means something. To be able to bring it home to little small-town Jacksonville that we have fallen in love with so much, it is just incredible to be able to do that.”

Five games into the championship match, the Gamecocks were on the brink of elimination. But Jacksonville State rallied to bowl a 237 in Game 6 and a 255 in Game 7 to win the national championship at Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen Park, Michigan.

“I feel like we’re like a broken record because we talk about it all the time,” O’Keefe said, “but to be patient, dig your heels in and just execute has really been our motto all year. To watch our girls do what they did tonight was just awesome. To bowl a 250 to win the national championship is pretty sweet.”

Although a first-year program, Jacksonville State didn’t lack experience. The roster featured seven transfers, each with at least one national championship, and two newcomers.

Team members include Isabel Allen, Dannielle Henderson, Rebecca Hagerman, Keyla Covarrubias, Crystal Elliott, Kayla Smith, Anna Warkel, Maranda Pattison and Olivia Fehlner.

O’Keefe had guided McKendree to the national championship in 2017 and 2022.

Arkansas State finished as the national runner-up for the third time in four years. The Red Wolves lost to Nebraska in 2021 and to Vanderbilt in 2023.

The national championship is the first for Jacksonville State since the Gamecocks won the NCAA Division II football crown in 1992.

The women’s bowling team is scheduled to arrive at Pete Mathews Coliseum at around noon CDT Sunday. But the Gamecocks have one event remaining on their 2024 schedule, the USBC Intercollegiate Team Championships that begins on Wednesday in Louisville, Kentucky.