RICHMOND, Ky. -  The Northern Illinois University women's golf team closed out the penultimate tournament of the 2018-19 regular season Saturday at the par 72 University Club at Arlington with a second-place finish at the EKU Colonel Classic.
 
NIU, which started the day four strokes behind host and team leader Eastern Kentucky, could not make up any ground on the Colonels as the Huskies shot a final round 300 while EKU posted the lowest round of the day with a 291 for the 13-stroke win.  The Huskies were 16 strokes in front of third place Oakland with MAC foes Ball State, Ohio and Akron finishing sixth, and tied for seventh, respectively.
 
"This was definitely a good confidence booster," said NIU head coach Kim Kester.  "It's always nice to bring home some hardware.  We hadn't seen this course, it was extremely hilly, good to see the girls stuck it out and came home with a trophy.  Unfortunately we weren't able to challenge Eastern Kentucky. We gave too many shots away on the greens today."
 
Senior Kelly Anderson led the Huskies on the day with an even-par 72 to complete her best tournament of the season as she tied for sixth with a 54-hole total of three-over par 219 (72-75-72).  Sophomore Lauren Ingle joined her at 219 after a final round 75. Senior Brielle Ward tied for 15^th after posting a five-over 77 Saturday to finish at nine-over par 225. Sofia Gomez Enriquez contributed a four-over par 76 to NIU's effort Saturday and tied for 26^th while freshman Ahra Ko shot 78 to tie for 20^th at 12-over par 228.
 
"Kelly had a good tournament, it's good to see that as we get closer to conference tournament time," Kester said. "I'm proud of how she performed and hope to keep her rolling."
 
The Huskies' second-place finish in the 13-team field was its best since winning the season-opening Redbird Invitational back in September, and its team score of 888 was its lowest of the spring.
 
"With just the Purdue tournament left before MACs, we want to be peaking at the right time," Kester said. "We'll take six players to Purdue so that tournament will give us a good idea of who is playing the best, whose rounds are counting."
 
The Huskies play the final tournament of the regular season in West Lafayette, Ind. on April 13-14 in the Lady Boilermaker Invitational.  The MAC Championships will be held April 19-21 at Purgatory Golf Club in Noblesville, Ind.
 
-- NIU --