ARLINGTON, Texas - Ranked No. 19 in the nation, the Bethune-Cookman bowling team finished up the opening day of action Friday as part of the Prairie View A&M Invitation being held at the Bowling International Training and Research Center in Arlington, Texas.

Fans can watch the action for the entire weekend live via website at Bowl.com.

B-CU came into the weekend looking to showcase the energy they picked up last weekend at the KU Invitational in Reading, Pennsylvania against several nationally-ranked opponents. This weekend's field looked to provide much of the same as the invitation-only event marks the second year the tournament will take place at the state-of-the-art training facility. Out of the 12 teams that are scheduled to participate, the tourney will play host to 10 teams ranked in the top 20 with five teams ranked 10th or higher, including No. 1 Central Missouri, No. 2 Maryland Eastern Shore, No. 3 Vanderbilt, No. 6 Nebraska and No. 7 Arkansas State.

The Wildcats stumbled a bit in Friday's Baker games, but sit just 147 pins outside of current seventh place team Valparaiso. Inability to pick up spares on the day is what cost the Cats, and head coach Tony O'Neal stressed the importance of spares leading into the weekend's event.

"It was a tough day today, and we didn't pick up spares - and in the end, that is really what hurt us," said O'Neal. "However, I refused to allow the girls to get down. Today may have been rough, but we still have two more days to get right back in the hunt. There is a lot of bowling left and it's a long weekend. The last thing they can do is get down after a day like today."

B-CU went just 0-5 during Friday's Baker game format, but O'Neal is looking for a drastic turnaround in Saturday's Traditional games set.

"I am looking forward to every young lady bowling to their ability on Saturday," stressed O'Neal. "If we can get each young lady to bowl as well as I know they can bowl - and more importantly, as well as they know they can bowl - then we'll have a great day as a team."

Arkansas State sits atop the standings after the first day with 4,4047 pins, followed closely by Vanderbilt. B-CU is 11th with 3,342 total pins.

The action continues back at the Bowling International Training and Research Center for Traditional games starting at 9 a.m. (CST).