National bowler Apple Posadas finished strong Thursday to hold off veteran internationalist Liza del Rosario and maintain her frontrunning score going into Saturday’s finals of the Bowling World Cup national championships at the SM Mall of Asia Center in Pasay City.

Posadas posted a 20-game total of 4335 pinfalls to pace Del Rosario and six others in their battle for the national ladies’ crown and the right to represent the Philippines in the BWC international finals set October 15-24 in Toulon, France.

Del Rosario checked in a close second at 4306, followed by another RP bowler, Krizziah Tabora, with 4294.

With their scores carried over, the eight remaining contenders will roll another eight games, with the top three finishers moving into the best-of-three semifinal and final matches.

The other ladies still in contention with their respective scores are Lara Posadas, 4262; Rochelle Munsayac, 4179; Mades Arles, 3947; Abbie Gan, 3882; and Wanda Teer, 3733.