Sept. 8, 2009
GLENCOE, Ala. -- Led by three top-ten finishes, the Lamar women's golf team maintained its 36-hole lead and won the Chris Banister Classic at Silver Lakes on Tuesday.
The Lady Cardinals made their nine-stroke advantage from Monday hold up as they recorded a 308 on Tuesday for a 54-hole total of 904, four strokes ahead of tourney-host Jacksonville State.
"What really allowed us to win was our strong second round," LU assistant coach Dusty Smith said. "Any time you have two girls go under par you are going to shoot low team scores and that's exactly what we did.
"With the nine shot lead (entering Tuesday) we didn't have to push as hard and the girls could relax out there. I think this shows that we have a much deeper lineup than last year. We are strong at number one and two, but also have solid four and five players."
This is Lamar's first team title since tying for top honors at the Claud Jacobs Intercollegiate in Victoria last March. Their last outright tourney win came in March of 2008 at the Lamar/Sam Houston Invitational in Huntsville.
Stine Pederson tied for third for the Lady Cards after her 79 put her total at 223, eight shots back of Louisiana-Monroe's Angela Drane, who claimed medalist honors with a 215 total.
Lauren Van Gerven shot a second-consecutive 76 to notch an eight-place finish at 226. Linda Persson tied for ninth at 227, while Ashley Thorpe also placed herself in the top 10 with a final-round 75 that pushed her up into 18th place at 234. She sliced three shots off her previous round each day.
Jennel Alexander carded her first round in the 70s with a 78 for a 242 score and a 26th-place finish. Fabienne Haremza recorded a 78 Tuesday for her low round of the week, tying for 34th at 249.
ULM placed third in the team competition with a 54-hole total of 911. Indiana State and Arkansas State tied for fourth with a 918 to round out the top five. Butler (946) placed sixth, while Northeastern State (956) and West Georgia (1005) rounded out the eight-team field.
Lamar will return to action next week when it travels to Fort Worth, Texas, for the North Texas Fall Classic, Sept. 14-15.
1 Lamar University 303 293 308 904
T 3 Stine Pedersen 74 70 79 223
8 Lauren Van Gerven 74 76 76 226
T 9 Linda Persson 74 69 84 227
T 18 Ashley Thorpe 81 78 75 234
26 Jennel Alexander 81 83 78 242*
T 34 Fabienne Haremza 82 89 78 249
* Competed as an individual
