Saint Mary's finished in a tie for fifth place out of 11 teams at the Trine Spring Classic, which was held on Friday and Saturday at Zollner Golf Course in Angola, Indiana.
After the first day of competition, the Belles sat sixth with a score of 366; junior Katie Zielinski led Saint Mary's in the opening round with an 89, good to place 23rd individually after 18 holes.
Sophomore Courtney Carlson carded a 90 to sit 25th through one round while first-year Katilyn Cartone shot a 92 to place 30th at the end Friday's play. Senior Janice Heffernan shot a 95 to tie for 32nd, and freshman Kelsey Conkright shot a 96, which tied her for 36th place. Playing as an individual, freshman Lydia Lorenc also carded a 96. Hope led the field through 18 holes with a first-round 327.
While the first day of competition did not go so well for the Belles, the second was better as they improved on their score, carding a 340 to move them into a tie for fifth with Wheaton in the final standings.
Belles head coach Kim Moore said while she was not pleased with the overall finish, she was happy with her team's bounce-back day Saturday.
“The results were not exactly what I wanted, but when you start off the way we started you can expect to finish were we did,” Moore said. “However, I am glad that we did better the second day and were able to finish a little more respectable.”
Carlson shot an 84 Saturday to finish with a two-day score of 174, leading all Belles for the tournament to finish 17th while Heffernan shot the best Saturday score for a Belle, carding an 81 to finish with a two-day 176, good for 20th.
Zielinski shot an 88 Saturday to finish in 22nd place while Cartone consolidated her first-day 92 with a second-day 87 to tie for 24th. Conkright rounded out the tournament with a 92 to finish 34th and Lorenc tied for 38th with a second-day 97.
Hope remained in front after the second day of play, taking home the title with a 36-hole 656. Bethel finished second, seven strokes behind, while Trine carded a 678 to finish third.
The Belles are back in action this afternoon when they play in the first round of the MIAA tournament in Marshall, Michigan, and Moore said her team will need faith to find success.
“We need to have confidence,” Moore said. “We need to believe that we can play with the top two teams in our conference. We need to focus on eliminating the mental mistakes and the big numbers. If we can do those things then I believe we have a great chance to do well.”
