Griz shoot 304, drop to eighth

The Montana women's golf team shot a 304 on Tuesday on the second day of the Big Sky Conference Championship, which is being held at Talking Stick Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.

The Grizzlies, with a 301, were in seventh place after Monday's opening 18 holes. They will go into Wednesday's final round in eighth place, three strokes out of sixth.

Kylie Franklin (74), Tricia Joyce (75) and Raina Ports (75) all shot 75 or better, but the team's other two scores were 80 and 81.

"We're just not putting the ball close enough to the hole," said coach Kris Nord. "The greens are tough if you're putting from 40 to 50 feet. We had too many three-putts sneak up and bite us today.

"But they're hanging in there, hitting the ball decently. We're close but not getting over the hump quite yet."

Franklin's 74 was her second-lowest round of the year, only behind the 71 she shot in the third round at the Eagle Invitational in Spokane in September.

She bogeyed No. 1 but never got worse than 2-over, which she was at the turn. She played the back nine at even par.

"After that kind of start, she got to work," said Nord. "I was really impressed with her back nine. It was very good to see. We need her to have that kind of a score."

Ports was even through 15 holes but bogeyed 16, 17 and 18. Joyce, 2-over through 16, bogeyed the par-5 17th.

All five Grizzlies bogeyed at least one of the last two holes, strokes that kept Montana from breaking 300 for the first time at the Championship since 2018.

"We had a little faltering at the end with everybody," said Nord. "Tricia and Raina had better rounds going than what they posted. We kind of got what we deserved."

Madison Cecil shot an 80, Jessica Ponce an 81.

Montana, which didn't have anything worse than bogey for the second straight day, hasn't finished higher than seventh at the Championship since placing fifth in 2015.

"We hit a lot of greens today and still walked away with bogeys. We have to get it closer and have more two-putts and some birdies here and there," said Nord. "That's what's holding us back."

Sacramento State (282-281), which had individual scores of 66, 71, 72 and 72 on Tuesday, holds a 10-stroke lead over Weber State (290-283). Montana State (290-286) is in third with 18 holes to be played.

Sacramento State's Caitlin Maurice (69-66) is one of 10 players under par after 36 holes. She holds a four-stroke lead over Eastern Washington's Jaelin Ishikawa (69-70).

Joyce is tied for 15th, Ports for 25th, Franklin for 33rd, Cecil for 40th and Ponce for 43rd.

University of Montana Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Madison Cecil

Kylie Franklin

Tricia Joyce

Jessica Ponce

Raina Ports

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