The old saying, “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” proved true on Jan. 5 at Fritz’s Lanes in Lehighton.

On that night, after a somewhat slow start, Kendra Boger bowled an 824 series to set a new three-game house record at Fritz’s.

Boger had a spare, an unconverted split, a strike and another spare in her first four frames for a very ordinary score of 66 nearly halfway through her first game.

“I was very upset with myself,” said Boger, who carries a 225 average at the lanes. “I had to stand away by myself for a few minutes.”

Her moment of solitude was exactly what she needed. From the fifth frame through the 10th, Boger bowled eight straight strikes to finish with a 246.

Game two began just like the end of the first. Boger rolled eight straight strikes until the ninth frame, when she converted a one-pin spare. With a turkey (three straight strikes) in the last frame, she finished with a 279.

Asked if she got more nervous as the night went on, she simply said, “No, I don’t get nervous. I take the pressure inside and that helps me focus better on the line.”

She described herself as a down-and-in bowler. “I usually throw over the second arrow with not too much hook.” She uses a different ball to throw straighter at spares. Her boyfriend, Alex Whitney, provided a few more details.

“Kendra comes over the top with her release when many bowlers come off the side of the ball,” he said. “She gets a lot of revolutions and good pin action from her ball that spins like a top.”

With 525 pins after two games, Boger was unaware that she had a chance to break the Fritz record, which was an 818 series set a few years ago.

“I was not thinking about hitting 800 at all,” said Boger, who has one other 800 series to her name. She also has five perfect games to her credit, with her last 300 coming last March in a tournament at Bar-Don Lanes in Easton.

Boger’s thoughts of a record-breaking series were not her priority in the third game. She kept striking until her final shot in the 10th, when she left a seven pin for a score of 299.

The difficulty of her accomplishment was significant. Lane conditions often change during the three games bowled. Boger had to make adjustments depending on whether the oil on the lanes had begun to dry out, which required her to move her feet farther right or left. She also had to try to keep the same release for all 30 frames.

“I had figured out during my third game that I had a great chance to get to an 800.”

For her series that night, Boger bowled 31 strikes, three spares and had one open frame in her total of 30 frames.

Denise Haberman, manager of the Palmerton Area United States Bowling Congress Association, confirmed Boger’s series as sanctioned and official.

Boger’s love for the sport of bowling began when she was 7 years old. “My parents both bowled,” she said, “and my dad has bowled around 20 or so 300 games in his life.”

From practicing often, Boger joined junior leagues because she enjoyed competition. At age 16, she also participated in the Pennsylvania Junior Bowl Tour, and competed at Jordan Lanes in Whitehall, Steel City Lanes in Bethlehem, Tacos in Wilkes-Barre, and at lanes in New York and Delaware.

“I was into dance and gymnastics growing up,” she explained. “I wasn’t into other sports. Just bowling. I like the competitive challenge, and sometimes after I’ve had a bad day, bowling a few games is very calming.”

Two years ago, Boger bowled at the Pennsylvania State Masters Tournament held at Jordan Lanes. She finished 15th out of 114 bowlers, which included mostly men, and she was the only woman to advance to the second round.

Boger’s continuing success on the lanes has her thinking about taking her game to the next level.

“I’m not ready to go pro yet,” she said. “It’s been a dream of mine, but I want to work on my game to get better so I can compete at that level.”

After her record-breaking performance at Fritz’s Lanes, Kendra Boger’s dream of becoming a professional bowler appears even closer to becoming a reality.