Women’s Golf in Ninth Following First Round of Big Sky Championship

Friday, April 21

Boulder City, NV

8:45 a.m. MT

Montana State University

2017 Big Sky Conference Championship

Delaney Elliott

Photo by: MSU Sports Information

Women’s Golf in Ninth Following First Round of Big Sky Championship

4/21/2017 5:29:00 PM | Women's Golf

Round 1 Results

The Montana State women’s golf rebounded from a rough front nine and improved its play on the back nine to wrap up the first round of the Big Sky Women’s Golf Championship Friday

By: Andrew Pedersen

BOULDER CITY, Nev. – The Montana State women's golf team rebounded from a rough front nine and improved its play on the back nine to wrap up the first round of the Big Sky Women's Golf Championship Friday, April 21, at Boulder Creek Golf Club.

The Bobcats improved on its second set of nine holes by a combined 15 strokes between the five golfers but finished with a team score of 329 after the first round of play. MSU sits in a tie for ninth place with Montana. Portland State is in first place in the team standings with a 309.

Junior Jaylee Tait and freshman Delaney Elliott led the Bobcats in the opening round with each firing a 9-over-par 81. Tait shot 2-over and picked up seven pars on the back nine for MSU's best nine holes during the first round. Elliott shot 3-over on the back nine and had three birdies overall. The two are tied for 23rd in the individual standings.

Freshmen Kelly Hooper and Coral Schulz are tied for 32nd and tied for 44th, respectively, after achieving clips of 82 and 85. Senior Janelle Reali rounded out MSU's lineup with an 88.

Big Sky Conference Most Valuable Golfer Sofia Anokhina of Northern Arizona sits in first place on the individual leaderboard at even-par (72).

MSU accumulated a first-round high 10 birdies among tournament participants -- including Hooper's team- and meet-high four -- but inconsistency during the first part of the opening 18 holes led to a tie for the least number of pars to begin the tournament.

"It was a tough day for us," Montana State head coach Brittany Basye said. "The course played extremely difficult as you could tell by the higher scores. We just couldn't get anything going. We'd have some good holes, then some bad holes, then some more good and more bad.

"It was inconsistent, but I have faith in the girls. They've been working hard so it's bound to pay off. Tomorrow is a new day and I'm excited to see them go out tomorrow and see what they can make happen out on the golf course."

Montana State returns for the second round of action Saturday. The Bobcats are set to tee off at 10:15 a.m. MDT at Boulder Creek Golf Club alongside golfers from North Dakota and Idaho State.