Montana finishes 11th in spring opener

Tuesday, February 11

Wigwam Golf Club; Litchfield Park, Ariz.

Montana

Bowling Green Intercollegiate

Photo by: VailSports Images

2/12/2025 5:21:00 PM | Golf

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By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana women's golf team closed the Bowling Green Intercollegiate with a final-round 309 on Wednesday. The Grizzlies placed 11th in their first tournament of the spring season at Wigwam Golf Club in Litchfield Park, Ariz.

Montana shot rounds of 320 and 314 on Tuesday before carding a 309 on Wednesday to defeat IU Indianapolis, Stephen F. Austin and Idaho State.

"It was definitely lessons learned from yesterday," said assistant coach Jeff Allen. "Everybody did a better job of knowing where to miss on this golf course.

"The greens are really small. Missing a green by one or two yards can mean it bounces off to the side 25 or 30 yards on some holes. We were smarter on our target selection and making sure we were hitting it to the middle of the green."

Elle Higgins and Raina Ports both shot a closing-round 74 on Wednesday, Montana's best score of the tournament. Higgins (75-80-74) tied for 15th place, Ports (83-78-74) tied for 41st.

Higgins, starting her day at No. 14, birdied three of her first five holes to get to 3-under. She had eight birdies over the tournament's 54 holes, tying for seventh in the 80-player field. She tied for second in the field on the course's five par-5s, playing them to an average score of 4.73.

Ports carded a pair of birdies on Wednesday. Hers was the only Grizzly scorecard with nothing worse than a bogey on it Wednesday.

"The conditions were still challenging," said Allen. "The wind wasn't as strong as yesterday but there was still plenty of wind with a bit cooler temperature.

"Happy with how everyone responded positively and kept trying to get better. Right now, that's the name of the game, trying to get better every day and trending in the right direction as we eventually make our way back here in mid-April."

Montana will play three more tournaments before returning to Wigwam in mid-April for the Big Sky Conference Championship. The Big Sky Championship also was held at Wigwam last spring.

"It's huge to be able to get some rounds in and start feeling those competitive nerves again, especially getting rounds in on this course," said Allen.

"The ball might fly a little bit further in April when it's a little bit warmer but we're getting a better game plan of how we are going to play this course for the conference championship. This is an important event for us to come to."

Hannah Ports was Montana's No. 5 golfer pre-tournament, based on qualifying, but she finished third on the team and tied for 53rd overall, shooting rounds of 79, 77 and 82.

"She did a good job of focusing on the shot right in front of her. She was frustrated by some holes and how some things went, but she did a good job of continuing to stay in her process and hit the best shot she could at the moment," said Allen. "She did a good job of managing her game and her emotions."

Bella Johnson (83-85-79) tied for 67th, Kendall Hayward (87-79-84) finished 74th.

Weber State (292-315-297) pulled out the team victory by a single stroke over UTEP (296-310-299). Abilene Christian, Bowling Green, Northern Illinois and Eastern Kentucky all finished within eight strokes of the Wildcats atop the tight leaderboard.

Abilene Christian's Ryann Honea (72-72-74) and UTEP's Nawel Ben Letaief (77-70-71) tied atop the individual leaderboard at 5-over.

The Grizzlies won't compete again for more than a month, when they play in the Red Rocks Invitational in Sedona, Ariz., from March 14-16.

"I was happy that the team had high expectations coming into this event," said Allen. "Obviously we're rusty coming out of the winter, so it was tough to meet those expectations, but it gives us a lot to work towards."