PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. – The Lamar University women's golf team shook off a slow start to move into contention heading into Saturday's final round of the Ball State Sunshine Invitational on Friday.
 
The Cardinals, who were in eighth place after a 337 in Friday morning's first round, came back to fire the best round of the day, a 312, to move into third place after 36 holes of the 54-hole event on the 6,074-yard, par-72 layout of the St. Lucie Trail Golf Club.
 
The Cardinals, who were supposed to arrive in Florida on Wednesday, didn't arrive until late Thursday due to a canceled flight. The Cardinals missed Thursday's practice round, but LU coach Jessica Steward refused to use that as an excuse.
 
"We made a lot of costly mental mistakes during the first round," Steward said. "It wasn't our lack of a practice round that hurt us, we actually had a better game plan than most. It just took us a while to wake up and shake the rust off."
 
LU's Elodie Chapelet, who fired an 8-over-par 80 in the first round, came back in the afternoon to tie for the low round of the day with a 1-over-par 73. Chapelet is tied for the individual lead at 9-over-par 153 with Kristie Yang of Southern Illinois, who had rounds of 78 and 75. Chapelet and Yang are three strokes ahead of Thunpija Sukkasem of Toledo, who is competing as an individual.
 
"We came back during the second round, led by a solid 73 from Elodie," Steward said. "Even though she struggled on the back nine with a double bogey and bogey back to back, she held it together and finished strong."
 
Toledo leads the 12-team field at 54-over-par 630, six strokes ahead of Southern Illinois at 636. LU is third at 649, two strokes ahead of Eastern Kentucky. McNeese, the other Southland Conference team in the field, is sixth at 659.
 
"We are 13 strokes out of second, but that is a deficit that we can overcome if we make good decisions and take the round one shot at a time," Steward said.
 
LU's Wenny Chang is tied for 11^th at 160 after rounds of 81 and 79. Felicia Sauceda is tied for 27^th at 167 after rebounding for a 78 in the afternoon after an 89 in the morning. Olivia Le Roux and Kura Poko are both tied for 35^th in the 66-player field at 170. Le Roux and Poko both had an 88 in the first round and an 82 in the second round.
 
Saturday's final round is scheduled to start at 8:30 a.m.