Griz shoot 309 again, move up to 11th

The Montana women's golf team shot its second consecutive 309 on Saturday and wrapped up play at the Lady Thunderbird Invitational in 11th place at Sunbrook Golf Club in St. George, Utah.

The Grizzlies opened the tournament with a 323 for Thursday's opening 18 holes. "It was a little bit better each day, so that was good to see. Definitely more solid," said coach Jimmy Mee.

For the first time in three rounds in St. George, Montana had its four countable scores in the 70s on Saturday.

Hannah Ports followed up Friday's collegiate-best 74 with a 76, Raina Ports fired a 77 and Elle Higgins and Tricia Joyce both carded 78s.

Hannah Ports was 1-over through 12 holes before double-bogeying the par-4 10th. The sophomore responded like a veteran, posting a par the next four holes.

"In an 18-hole round, you're going to have a few things not go your way," said Mee. "She had a mishap on 10 but followed it with a string of pars.

"You can just see her confidence growing. Even from a distance, you can see it. That's going to be huge for us moving forward."

Raina Ports was 2-over through 15 holes before closing bogey, bogey, bogey. Joyce was the opposite, playing her first eight holes at 6-over before playing the last 10 at even par.

Higgins was even through six holes, then had six bogeys over her final 12 holes.

"Tricia did an awesome job sticking with it, and Raina played better than her score. A bad finish cost her," said Mee. "Elle maybe had five three-putts. As a team we just had too many three-putts today."

It was all underclassmen in the top three spots for the Grizzlies. Hannah Ports (82-74-76) tied for 32nd, Raina Ports (80-76-77) tied for 35th and Higgins (78-78-78) tied for 41st.

"We're young and will have some growing pains along the way, but the more we knock them out now, it's going to bode well for the future," said Mee. "It's going to be exciting."

Boise State (301-299-294) won the team title by 10 strokes over Weber State (310-302-292). Utah Valley (303-303-301) and Oral Roberts (305-297-305) tied for third.

Wyoming's Jadan Gonzalez (77-70-69) and Boise State's Leia Chung (76-69-71) tied for individual honors, one stroke ahead of 18- and 36-hole leader Tanyatorn Thalangkarn (71-68-78) of Southern Utah.

Montana will next compete at the Red Rocks Invitational in Sedona, Ariz., on March 16-17.

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Players Mentioned

Elle Higgins

Tricia Joyce

Hannah Ports

Raina Ports

University of Montana Athletics