Grizzlies in the mix at Big Sky Championship

The Montana women's golf team has not had a top-five finish at the Big Sky Conference Championship since 2015, but the Grizzlies are in a strong position to make that happen this week in Arizona.

Montana shot a 295 on Tuesday on the second of three days of the tournament and is in fifth place, just two strokes out of third but also only one stroke up on its two nearest pursuers on a tight leaderboard.

"It's really exciting," said first-year coach Jimmy Mee. "We got off to an okay start, got through the hardest part of the course pretty well, fell apart a little bit to start the back nine before digging it out.

"Elle (Higgins) made a fantastic birdie on 18 that jumped us up to solo fifth instead of being tied with a couple other teams. It was a good way to finish the day."

As expected, Sacramento State (282-282), at 4-under, is running away with the tournament. The Hornets will take an 18-stroke lead into Wednesday's final round.

Weber State (288-294) is +14, Northern Arizona (293-293) is +18, Montana State (295-292) is +19 and Montana (293-295) is +20.

Northern Colorado (296-293) and Eastern Washington (295-294) are both one stroke behind the Grizzlies at +21.

Higgins, the 18-hole leader after shooting a 68 on Monday, is tied for 10th after carding a 5-over 76. She parred the first five holes after sleeping on the lead.

"She was nervous. It's a different position to be leading after round 1 at your first conference tournament," said Mee. "She did a good job of making a bunch of pars to get the nerves under control."

Higgins was 3-over through 11 holes before taking double-bogeys on the par-4 12th and the par-3 13th. She responded by playing the last five holes at 2-under, with birdies on 15 and 18.

"After those doubles it was, uh-oh, what's going on? She made a good putt on 15, then hit 18 in two and had a great two-putt birdie to hopefully get some momentum going into tomorrow," said Mee.

"She wasn't as sharp as she was yesterday and that kind of ate at her a little bit, but she's still in a spot where if she has a good round tomorrow, she can jump into the top five."

Five players are under par, with Sacramento State's Jennifer Koga leading the way at 5-under. Higgins is one of four players tied for 10th at 2-over.

Montana has three players in the top 20, with Raina Ports (75-72) and Tricia Joyce (74-73) both tied for 17th.

After carding just one birdie on Monday, Ports had a team-high four on Tuesday. Joyce played the final 11 holes on Tuesday at even par.

Kendall Hayward (76-77) is tied for 40th, Hannah Ports (80-74) is tied for 43rd.

Wednesday's final round will begin at 7:30 a.m. (MT). The final group will tee off at 10:40 a.m. (MT).

"We have to get off to a really good start," said Mee. "The first five holes, you have to get one or two birdies because they are very gettable. We didn't really take advantage today.

"If we can get everyone off to a good start and get a few birdies before we get into the gauntlet stretch, we'll be set up to have a really good round."

University of Montana Athletics

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Kendall Hayward

Tricia Joyce

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Raina Ports

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