Sam Houston State’s women’s golf team ended in fifth place after the Southland Conference held in McKinney at the Stonebridge Country Club Monday through Wednesday.
Sophomore Paige Nelson was the top golfer from SHSU, finishing the tournament tied for fourth.
Nelson, who was only one stroke away from third place, tied with Kelly Erasmus from Lamar. She began the tournament by shooting an 80, but was able to cut her round down by 10 strokes in the second round before ending the tournament shooting a 73. Nelson has now placed in the top-five in back-to-back SLC Championship tournaments.
“I feel the team didn’t play as well as we hoped for,” Nelson said. “We went in the tournament with the mindset to win. We were more than capable of winning, we have enough talent and skill [and we] know we tried our very best and never gave up once.”
Freshman Sarah Black tied for 11th place with Caitlyn Cassity from Houston Baptist. Black shot a 79 in the first round and slowly fixed her game as she shot a 76 in the second and finished the third round with a 73.
Senior Alisa White tied for 22nd place with Anna Millet Esteve from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. White shot a 77 in the first and third round with an 80 in the second.
Junior Nicole Budnik tied for 29th place, shooting an 84, 79 and 75 in her outing while Sophomore Celeste Lo landed in 33rd place after shooting an 80 in the first round and 81 in the latter two rounds.
Lamar won the tournament with a total score of 892, followed by Central Arkansas with a total of 901. HBU ended in third by shooting a 912 with Stephen F. Austin State in fourth place with a 917.
SFA’s Jessica White and Lamar’s Wenny Craig tied in a share for first place in the individual leaderboard.