Apr. 11—GOODYEAR, Arizona — The Eastern Washington university women's golf team concluded the regular season at the Bobcat Desert Classic, hosted by Montana State. The Eagles finished sixth after shooting 895, according to a release from Eastern Washington Athletics.
EWU has steadily improved each round over the three-day competition, finishing with a 294 in round three.
The Eagles finished ahead of Big Sky foes Montana (901), Portland State (909) and Idaho State (929) in the lead up to the conference championships next week.
"The next two rounds, we really focused on the start and not digging ourselves into a hole. We were able to make more birdies in the last two rounds and that makes all the difference between competing and not competing." Wildcat Coach Brenda Howe said. Gabriella Ilardi turned in a strong performance, shooting 219 (+3) to place 12th. The sophomore shot 71 in the second round and 73 in the final round to close out her regular season. Ilardi averaged 4.67 strokes on par fives, tying for the second-lowest mark among the field.
As a team, Eastern averaged 4.95 on par fives, also tied for the second-lowest score of the Classic.
Berkley Ledesma concluded her first regular season shooting 221 (+5) and tying for 16th. Ledesma notched a 72 in round two for her best day in Goodyear. The University Place native posted the second-lowest score on par threes, averaging 2.75 strokes while shooting -3 on overall in three rounds.
The Eagles also averaged the fourth-lowest score on par threes, with a 3.13 strokes average.
Kami Twining shot a 72 in round three and moved into a three-way tie for 30th on the individual leaderboard. Spencer Cerenzia had a solid round two, shooting 74 and tying for 33rd.
Weber State won the Desert Classic with an 858 score. Idaho's Zoe Newell and Montana State's Lauren Greeny tied for the individual title, both shooting 208(-8).
Eastern Washington will shift its focus to postseason mode next week as they return to Arizona for the Big Sky Championships. The Championships begin Monday, April 14, and conclude Wednesday, April 16, at the Wigwam Golf Course in Litchfield, Ariz.
