Higgins tied for seventh after 36 holes

Montana freshman Elle Higgins, who held the overall lead after 18 holes, is tied for seventh through two rounds at the Bowling Green Women's Intercollegiate in Litchfield Park, Ariz.

Higgins shot a 1-under 70 for her opening round at Wigwam Golf Club on Tuesday, including an eagle on the par-5 3rd, then followed with a 79 for her second 18.

She is in a four-way tie for seventh, five strokes off the 36-hole lead of Abilene Christian's Delaney Martin (71-73).

Higgins' 70 matched the 70 she carded in the third round of the Big Sky Conference 54 for IX tournament in the fall as her best collegiate score.

"She hit it really well and made some putts when she needed to," said coach Jimmy Mee of Higgins' opening round. "She drove it well, she hit it well, just solid golf."

Higgins was even through 12 holes when she teed off at the 560-yard No. 3. Tee shot, approach, a single putt, eagle. Higgins played the course's five par 5s to 3-under on Tuesday.

"She hit a longer iron to 15 or 20 feet and rolled in the putt," said Mee. "Anytime you can make an eagle, that's huge."

Sophomore Raina Ports opened with a 76 before closing with an 81. She is tied for 29th. Tricia Joyce (82-78) is tied for 38th, Kendall Hayward (82-83) is tied for 62nd and Hannah Ports (82-84) is tied for 65th.

Montana opened with a round of 310, closed with a 321 on a day when the 14 teams combined to post just four sub-300 scores.

"It's a hard golf course," said Mee. "The green complexes are tough. The greens are very small, very undulated and very firm.

"You're going to hit good shots that end up bad, you're going to hit bad shots that end up good. You just have to be able to roll with the punches and react the same way with all the shots."

Grand Canyon (294-299) holds the 36-hole lead by six strokes over Idaho (302-297), the only other Big Sky team competing.

Ball State (309-296), Northern Illinois (300-310) and Abilene Christian (304-310) round out the top five. Montana is tied for ninth, just two strokes behind seventh-place Creighton.

The tournament will wrap up on Wednesday morning with a final 18.

"We just need to get a few people off to a good start," said Mee. "If we can get off to a start where we get settled into the round, then we'll be in good shape."

University of Montana Athletics

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Kendall Hayward

Elle Higgins

Tricia Joyce

Hannah Ports

Raina Ports

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