Ports leading Grizzlies in Portland

Raina Ports shot rounds of 75 and 73 on Monday and is tied for seventh after two rounds of the Portland State Invitational, being played at the Columbia Edgewater Country Club in Portland.

Montana carded scores of 312 and 301 and is in ninth place out of 10 teams, eight strokes out of the top five with a final round on Tuesday.

Ports is the Grizzlies' lone golfer in the top 25.

The junior had an eventful opening round. Starting on the back nine, she had an eight-hole stretch when she recorded six birdies, then played the next six holes at 6-over.

She had a much cleaner scorecard in the day's second round, carding three bogeys and a pair of birdies. Her 73 was her second-lowest score of the fall, behind her 71 at the Eagle Invitational.

Ports' eight birdies on the day tied for the second most in the 65-player field.

"The first round she flagged it for a stretch when she went on a tear," said coach Jimmy Mee. "The second round was much cleaner and could have been a lot lower.

"She missed quite a few opportunities. Made some good putts, just burned edges. That 73 could have been a 67 if she gets a few of the four-, five- and six-footers to go."

Kendall Hayward (77-76) is tied for 27th, Elle Higgins (79-76) is in 36th, Bella Johnson (81-81) is in 52nd and Kate Bogenschutz (88-76) is tied for 55th.

"The first round was really rough," said Mee. "Lots of big numbers, a compounding of mistakes, missing short putts. It was just everything.

"It's a tight fairway. If you get out of position and don't take your medicine, things can snowball rather quickly."

Montana made an 11-stroke improvement from the first to second round. All 10 teams posted better scores in the afternoon round.

"I think everyone got used to the golf course," said Mee. "I don't think we hit it any better. But instead of freaking out, we figured it out.

"You can get away with making some bogeys. Everybody is going to make bogeys out there. You have to stay away from the doubles and worse. We did a better job of making bogey, then recovering."

Competing as individuals, Hannah Ports (82-81) is tied for 53rd, Madison Cecil (86-84) is 59th and Kylie Franklin (91-83) is 62nd.

Montana State (305-290) and Seattle (302-293) are tied for first through 36 holes, with Eastern Washington (299-298) two strokes back.

Eastern Washington's Gabriella Ilardi (71-70), Portland State's Cynthia Valerie Ong (71-71) and Seattle's Rivekka Jumagulova (72-71) are all under par through 36 holes.

University of Montana Athletics

Players Mentioned

Kate Bogenschutz

Madison Cecil

Kylie Franklin

Kendall Hayward

Elle Higgins

Bella Johnson

Hannah Ports

Raina Ports

Related Videos