PBA League Adds Two All-Women's Teams; Draft to Be Held in July

BY PBA COMMUNICATIONS

(JUNE 23, 2020) - Today, the Professional Bowlers Association announces that two new, all-women's professional bowling teams will join the race for the 2020 PBA League Elias Cup, increasing the number of teams in this year’s event to twelve.

The Phoenix Fury, managed by PWBA champion Kim Terrell-Kearney, and Miami Waves, managed by PBA champion Bob Learn Jr., will be the first all-women's teams in the PBA League’s history, since its founding in 2013. While female pros Kelly Kulick (NYC KingPins), Liz Johnson (Portland Lumberjacks) and Danielle McEwan (Motown Muscle) have been on previous team rosters in past years, this is the first time the PBA will include all-women team rosters. No women are currently on any of the other 10 team PBA League rosters.

A special draft between the two new clubs will take place on Tuesday, July 7, at 4 pm ET on FloBowling. The top 35 players on the 2019 PWBA Points List will be eligible to be drafted onto the new teams 5-player rosters.

The 2020 PBA League Elias Cup tournament, to be broadcast live on FS1, is being rescheduled due to COVID-19 health and safety precautions, for this coming fall at Bayside Bowl in Portland, Maine. An announcement on scheduling will be made soon.

Two expansion clubs had already been added to the PBA League for 2020. The Brew City Ballers and Las Vegas High Rollers joined the League and took part in the annual player draft in May. All of the other team rosters are set.

The new divisional lineups with the addition of the two new women's teams:

Carter Division
Dallas Strikers (Manager Norm Duke)
Philadelphia Hitmen (Manager Jason Couch)
Brooklyn Styles (Manager Johnny Petraglia)
Silver Lake Atom Splitters (Manager Mark Baker)
Las Vegas High Rollers (Manager Amleto Monacelli)
Phoenix Fury (Manager Kim Terrell-Kearney)

Anthony Division
NYC KingPins (Manager Carolyn Dorin-Ballard)
Motown Muscle (Manager Del Ballard)
Portland Lumberjacks (Manager Tim Mack)
L.A. X (Manager Andrew Cain)
Brew City Ballers (Manager Marshall Holman)
Miami Waves (Manager Bob Learn Jr.)

The Portland Lumberjacks are defending Elias Cup champions.

The top 35 players from the 2019 PWBA Points list, eligible to be drafted by the Phoenix Fury and Miami Waves:

1 Shannon O'Keefe 148,125
2 Danielle McEwan 117,085
3 Dasha Kovalova 109,970
4 Liz Johnson 84,325
5 Clara Guerrero 83,190
6 Jordan Richard 80,795
7 Missy Parkin 78,512.5
8 Liz Kuhlkin 77,650
9 Stefanie Johnson 74,945
10 Maria José Rodriguez 70,170
11 Bryanna Coté 69,135
12 Shannon Pluhowsky 67,480
13 Cherie Tan 66,875
14 Josie Barnes 62,310
15 Tannya Roumimper 60,780
16 Birgit Poppler 55,905
17 Diana Zavjalova 55,047.5
18 Valerie Bercier 52,162.5
19 Kelly Kulick 50,420
20 Sydney Brummett 50,325
21 Verity Crawley 48,815
22 Giselle Poss 44,000
3 Sandra Gongora 43,402.5
24 Shayna Ng 42,550
25 Julia Bond 40,970
26 Erin McCarthy 37,300
27 Rocio Restrepo 36,065
28 Ashly Galante 33,680
29 Jen Higgins 32,705
30 Gazmine Mason 32,570
31 Lindsay Boomershine 31,370
32 Daria Pajak 30,845
33 Jodi Woessner 29,395
34 Katelyn Simpson 29,235
35 Daphne Tan 27,105