Sophomore Mia Torres carried early-season high hopes all the way to making Riverside Brookfield High School bowling history Friday. Torres became the first individual sectional qualifier in the school’s two-year girls or boys bowling history after finishing 10th at the Morton Sectional at Bowlero in River Grove.
Torres’ 1,017 six-game series (169.5 average) with a 197 high game was the fourth of the 10 highest-scoring advancing individuals not among the four advancing teams.
“I honestly can’t believe it. I’m still in shock and can’t get it out of my head,” she said. “I was given a goal at the beginning of the season that’s been keeping me determined by one of my coaches (assistant Paul Jarrell). He said he was going to try his best to get me past regionals and it worked. I’m looking forward to what sectionals has in store, although I do admit I am quite nervous.”
The Bulldogs were seventh (4,256) and Nazareth 11th (3,230). Also competing for RBHS were senior Abby Ford (25th, 843), sophomore Amira Glenn (29th, 831), senior Alyssa Sanchez (684 for 5 games), junior Alyssa Petrucci (678 for 5 games) and senior Audrey Raymond (203 for 2 games).
At the 2025 regional, Torres was 30th (815). This season, she received a boost late in the regular season with personal bests of a 594 three-game series and 250 high game.
“It’s only my second year of competitive bowling and I can’t believe how much my skills have improved thanks to the help of my awesome coaches,” Torres said. “My goal for sectionals is to get at least a 170-180 average.”
LTHS boys basketball
Lyons Township sophomore Grant Smith made his first four three-point attempts Friday and never looked back. By the end, Smith had delivered his varsity personal-best 32 points with 11 rebounds and the Lions had their seventh straight victory with a 63-59 home triumph over Glenbard West in La Grange in West Suburban Conference Silver Division action.
“(The keys were) just to keep shooting, really, just keep attacking the defense because when we were, we were able to get open shots and we were able to hit them,” said Smith, who previously scored in the mid-20s multiple times this season. “I wasn’t really worried about (the points) but I knew I was just going to keep attacking and scoring and doing what we needed to win.”
The Lions (18-6, 8-1 in Silver) also received contributions from Nate Woods (14 points, 9 rebounds), Owen Carroll (10 points, 4 assists), Tommy Blyth (4 points, 4 rebounds) and Timmy Sloan (3, points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds).
The victory also followed moving into a tie with York (24-4, 9-1) for first in the Silver by beating the Dukes 56-49, Feb. 3, in Elmhurst behind Woods’ 26 points with a program-record 8 threes.
The current winning streak follows a 1-3 stretch that included a 40-23 home loss to York, Jan. 9.
“I think we’ve really come together and just been able to improve,” Smith said. “We’ve just kind of been sticking together, coming to practice each day ready to work and getting better through the ups and downs.”
Girls basketball
Elizabeth Ryzewski (18 points with 4 threes) and Kate Hamilton (13 points, 7 rebounds) reached double figures as Riverside Brookfield (8-17, 5-6 in Upstate Eight East Division) beat Fenton 64-27 Thursday.
Lyons Township (19-9) finished third in the WSC Silver with an 8-4 record after beating second-place Glenbard West 65-47 Friday and York 52-30 Feb. 3. The Lions lost to Fremd 44-41 Saturday.
Gwen Smith had 26 points with two threes and eight rebounds in the game against Glenbard West (25-4, 9-3), which also included the return of senior starter Anna Bigenwald to the lineup from an ankle injury. Other standouts included Munson (15 points, 6 rebounds), Sinclair Zieba (10 points), Avery Mezan (9 points) and Kennedy Moore (6 points),
Smith (20 points, 8 rebounds), Moore (12 points, 8.rebounds), Munson (10 points) led the victory over York.
