Griz break 300 on second day of Eagle Invitational

The Montana women's golf team, which opened with a 313 on Monday, shot a 299 on Tuesday as the Eagle Invitational continued at Indian Canyon Golf Course in Spokane, Wash.

It was the Grizzlies' first time breaking 300 on a course outside of Missoula in nearly 18 months, since Montana carded a 299 at the Bobcat Spring Invitational in Goodyear, Ariz., in April 2021.

The Grizzlies were one of just four teams to break 300 on Tuesday.

"We put our approach shots a lot closer and made some putts," said coach Kris Nord. "We were close to being on our way to having a team record low until the last two holes.

"We kind of gave them away at the end, but to be under 300 and feel like you left a lot out there is a good place to be. We're moving in the right direction."

Jessica Ponce shot a 1-over 73, her best round of the fall and one off her collegiate best. Freshman Raina Ports carded a 74, Madison Cecil a 75, Tricia Joyce a 77.

Montana moved up one spot in the team standings, from eighth to seventh, and will enter Wednesday's final round two strokes behind Idaho State, five behind Utah Tech, six behind Portland State.

Ponce's day started with a double-bogey on the opening hole, but she regrouped, parred the next 11 holes, then birdied Nos. 13 and 16 to get back to even before giving one back on the 17th.

Montana carded 17 birdies on Tuesday, nearly twice as many as Monday's nine.

Ports had four birdies on the day and was 1-under through 15. Cecil, 4-over after 10, birdied four straight holes, including the par-3 11th and 13th. Joyce birdied two of the last five holes.

"We had a lot more birdies across the board. It was good to see. We've got to avoid the big score. Hopefully we can put those two things together tomorrow and do even better," said Nord.

"It feels good to know we could easily go low 290s if we just finish. It was a lot more fun to watch today."

Kylie Franklin, Meredith Boos and Hannah Ports all shot 82, Emmy Sundby 85.

Ponce (77-73) moved 11 spots up the leaderboard and is tied for 13th at 6-over. Cecil (77-75) is tied for 20th, Ports (79-74) is tied for 25th.

Montana State (294-291) will take a seven-stroke lead over Weber State (291-301) into Wednesday's final round. Eastern Washington (296-304) is in third.

Montana State's Scarlet Weidig-Velazquez (70-71) and CSU Bakersfield's Iris Han (70-73) are both under par through 36 holes. Three players are sitting at even par.

University of Montana Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Meredith Boos

Madison Cecil

Kylie Franklin

Tricia Joyce

Jessica Ponce

Hannah Ports

Raina Ports

Emmy Sundby

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