Griz in fifth with 18 to go

A second-round 299 on Tuesday at the Big Sky Conference Championship has the Montana women's golf team in position to challenge for its first top-five finish at the tournament in a decade.

After 36 holes, the Grizzlies sit alone in fifth, five up on its nearest pursuers as the Championship's final round looms on Wednesday at Wigwam Golf Club in Litchfield Park, Ariz.

Montana's five golfers played the day's first two holes at 7-over before the Grizzlies settled in on the course's back nine, where they posted six birdies.

Elle Higgins (72), Kate Bogenschutz (74), Raina Ports (76) and Bella Johnson (77) all finished at 77 or better on the par-71 course.

"We got off to a shaky start but did a good job of battling and snagging a few back before the end of the round," said coach Jimmy Mee.

Montana opened with a 295 on Monday. It's only the second time in program history the Grizzlies have played the first two rounds of the Big Sky Championship to scores below 300.

"We had some stretches of good golf but we still had to take two doubles and a triple, so it definitely wasn't clean by any stretch," said Mee.

"If we can go play normal golf tomorrow and do a good job of eliminating any doubles and triples, we'll be in a great spot."

Sacrament State (282-285), seeking its third straight Big Sky title, will take a 10-stroke lead over Montana State (287-290) into Wednesday's final 18 holes.

Northern Arizona (297-285) is in third, Weber State (301-286) is in fourth, seven strokes up on Montana. Idaho (298-301) and Northern Colorado (302-297) are five strokes behind the Grizzlies.

Higgins (71-72) continues to hold a spot in the top 10. She is tied for seventh at 1-over, four strokes off the lead of Sacramento State's Caitlin Maurice (71-68).

The top five golfers, including ties, after 54 holes will earn Big Sky Conference All-Tournament honors.

Higgins twice had back-to-back bogeys on Tuesday, to start her round on Nos. 1 and 2 and on the back nine on Nos. 11 and 12.

After opening bogey-bogey, she immediately birdied the par-5 3rd. She played her final six holes of the day at 2-under, with consecutive birdies on Nos. 15 and 16.

Higgins has had a pair of mostly clean scorecards, six birdies, seven bogeys, everything else played at par.

"She's gotten a lot better at that over the last year, not letting the bad shots derail a round and hanging in there," said Mee.

"If you can minimize the damage and stay in the round, you can usually do a pretty good job of saving it."

The team's breakthrough player this week has been Bogenschutz, who is playing at her first Big Sky Championship.

The sophomore shot rounds of 77 and 74 at last week's Bobcat Desert Classic and has gone 76-74 this week and is sitting in a tie for 22nd.

After playing the front nine at 4-over on Tuesday, Bogenschutz was 1-under for the back nine and a lip-out on No. 18 from going even lower.

"It's really cool to see how much she has grown in just the last two weeks," said Mee. "It's been an attitude change. She used to have the deer-in-the-headlights look.

"Now you can tell she knows, I can hit shots with these girls. She did a great job of thinking her way around the golf course today."

Ports opened with a 1-under 70 on Monday. She carded a 76 on Tuesday to fall out of the top 10. She is in a tie for 12th going into the final 18 holes.

"She was solid today, just a couple wild shots that cost her a little bit," said Mee. "She'll be just fine going into tomorrow.

"She's pretty good at having that chip on her shoulder, I'm going to go do this. I think she is in store for a good one tomorrow."

Johnson (78-77), also playing at her first Big Sky Championship, is tied for 37th. Hannah Ports (82-81) is tied for 43rd.

Montana's last top-five finish at the Big Sky Championship came in 2015, when scores of 307, 302 and 304 were good enough to place fifth.

The Grizzlies finished seventh last year with scores of 293, 295 and 301.

University of Montana Athletics

Players Mentioned

Kate Bogenschutz

Elle Higgins

Bella Johnson

Hannah Ports

Raina Ports

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