(LEBANON, Ill., June 14)—McKendree University women's bowling coach Shannon O'Keefe collected her second career Professional Women's Bowling Association (PWBA) Tour victory by winning the Sonoma County Open.
 
O'Keefe, who qualified second in the field for the stepladder finals that aired Tuesday evening on CBS Sports Network, defeated top-seeded Kelly Kulick in the title match, xxx. It marked the second PWBA Tour crown for O'Keefe, and her first individual championship. She teamed with Bill O'Neill last summer to win the PBA/PWBA Striking Against Breast Cancer Mixed Doubles championship.
 
At the Sonoma County Open, O'Keefe never fell below 12^th place following any of the qualifying rounds. She amassed 5,344 pins through 24 games of qualifying and took top honors in her group to earn a spot in the television finals. Kulick, who won the other group, was just 12 pins in front of O'Keefe at 5,356 pins after 24 games. The third and fourth positions for the television show were determined through group stepladder finals. Hui Fen New and Jennifer Higgins prevailed to grab the final two spots heading into the tournament finals.
 
O'Keefe faced New in the stepladder semifinals of the Sonoma County Open. After throwing strikes in each of the first five frames, O'Keefe needed a late double to rally for a 235-226 victory to reach. She started strong in the title match against Kulick, tossing strikes in six of the first seven frames on her way to a 246-203 victory.
 
The win capped a busy three-month stretch for O'Keefe. In April she guided the McKendree women's bowling program into its first-ever appearance at the NCAA Championship in North Brunswick, N.J. There, the Bearcats were solid throughout the week and brought home a Final Four trophy, giving the athletics program its first team hardware since the transition to NCAA Division II membership was completed in the summer of 2013. Just a week later, O'Keefe coached McKendree into the semifinals of the Intercollegiate Team Championships held in Wichita, Kan.
 
McKendree competed in eight in-season NCAA events in 2015-16, winning four while posting a runner-up finish in another.