New Diamond Doubles, All-Events leaders at Women's Championships

LAS VEGAS - Less than 24 hours after making their move to the top of the Diamond Team leaderboard, the members of 3 Webbers And An Outcast and Team Jearnest returned to the South Point Bowling Plaza on Wednesday and continued to rewrite the standings at the 2016 United States Bowling Congress Women's Championships.

The excitement started during doubles competition as Team USA's Erin McCarthy of Omaha, Nebraska, and Daria Pajak of Lake Wales, Florida, and sisters Josie and Jessica Earnest of Nashville, Tennessee, took over the top two spots in Diamond Doubles with 1,334 and 1,293, respectively. Shawna Strause and Heidi Woods of Tucson, previously held the lead with 1,283.

Josie Earnest, also a Team USA member, held off the rest of her teammates and claimed the lead in Diamond All-Events with 2,038. McCarthy moved into second place with 2,018, while Amanda Fry of Antelope, California, is third with 2,006. Emily Peterson of West Fargo, North Dakota, had held the top spot with 1,969.

051816PajakEarnest_465McCarthy and Pajak, who helped 3 Webbers And An Outcast into the Diamond Team lead Tuesday, used the momentum of a strong final game to jump ahead of the Earnests in the race for the top spot.

McCarthy led the pair with games of 246, 200 and 224 for a 670 series, while Pajak had 181, 219 and 264 for 664.

"It's awesome," said McCarthy, who finished second in Diamond Doubles with Omaha's Jamie Martin at the 2015 USBC Women's Championships. "This week was a lot of fun, especially since the last couple of weeks on (the Professional Women's Bowling Association) tour haven't gone so well. To come out here and have some fun, relax a little bit and bowl well is a great tune-up for the (USBC) Queens."

Josie Earnest fought with putting strikes together during her team event Tuesday but found the right combination during doubles and singles as she averaged more than 241 for her six games.

"It definitely was not the start I was hoping for, since I felt like I threw it well last night," said Earnest, who used sets of 729 in doubles, 718 in singles and 591 in team to reach her leading total. "I couldn't figure out a way to get the corners out. After talking with Erin last night, I made a few adjustments, and everything started to fall today. It's a cool feeling to leave with the lead and to say I have the opportunity to win it."

Earnest's singles effort also was enough to move her into third place in Diamond Singles, while Fry is second with 722. Daphne Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina, leads Diamond Singles with 724.

Diamond Doubles features bowlers with combined entering averages of 380 and above. Diamond Singles and Diamond All-Events includes competitors with averages of 190 and above.

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