Rio Verde Round 2 

LIVE STATS

PHOENIX – The Northern Illinois University women’s golf team trimmed 18 strokes off their first round score to vault up the leaderboard after the second round of play at the Rio Verde Invitational Saturday.

“Overall a lot better day than yesterday,” said NIU head coach Kim Kester. “We moved up some spots. It was good to see us rebound well. We were under par for a little while, but let a few holes get away from us at the end. Overall a good day.”

After an uncharacteristic opening round, the Huskies responded with a 295, which ranks second on NIU’s list for 18 hole scores, Saturday to climb five spots and move into 12th place heading into Sunday’s final round. NIU has a two-round total of 608.

Lena Gautier (La Celle Saint Cloud, France/Creteil) made the biggest move of the day. The Huskie junior shaved eight strokes off her first round 80 to climb 32 spots up the leaderboard. Gautier is in 34th with a 152. Freshman Kelly Anderson (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton-Warrenville South) also made a big jump Saturday. Anderson carded a second round 73 and moved from 84th place to 53rd with a two-round score of 155.

Connie Ellett (Hampshire, Ill./Hampshire) and Sydney Brickey (Burtchville, Mich./Shattuck-St. Mary’s) are tied at 50th with 154. Ellett scored a second-round 76, to pick up two spots, while Brickey’s 74 moved the Huskie junior up 16 places.

Freshman Brielle Ward (Frisco, Texas/Wakeland), who entered the second round in 19th, slipped to 53rd after a second round 80. Ward completed NIU’s scorers on the day.

Toledo leads the field with a 592 and Xavier’s Hanna Lee is in front of the individual leaderboard after scoring a 141. Lee is three under par for the tournament.

“We need another day like today to move up the leaderboard and finish out the tournament strong,” Kester said.

The Huskies complete play at the Rio Verde Invitational Sunday. Shotgun start is set for 9 a.m. CT. Live scoring will be available on Golfstat.com.

Team Scores: 1. Toledo (592); 2. Wichita State (594); 3. Northern Arizona (596); 4. UMKC (597); T-5. Eastern Michigan (600), Bradley (600); 7. Akron (602); 8. Missouri State (603); 9. Arkansas State (605); 10. Xavier (606); 11. Ohio (607); 12. NIU (608); 13. Arkansas-Little Rock (610); 14. Bowling Green (611); T-15. Illinois State (612), Western Michigan (612); 17. Ball State (615); 18. Seton Hall (630).

Individual Scores: 1. Hanna Lee (XU) 141; T-2. Sathika Ruenreong (UT) 144, Gavrilla Arya (WSU) 144; T-4. Aracelly Jimenez Rios (ASU) 145, Courtnee Cossell (ISU) 145, Savana Bezdicek (NAU) 145; T-7. Karyn Lee Ping (EMU) 146, Caroline Boone (MSU) 146, Kim Cifuentes (NAU) 146, Grace Henderson (BU) 146, Cynthia Diaz (UMKC) 146.

-NIU-