Griz sitting 8th after 36 holes

The Montana women's golf team shot rounds of 306 and 294 on Monday as the Kalispel Invitational got under way at the Kalispel Golf and Country Club in Spokane.

The Grizzlies' afternoon score of 294 was their best since last September and tied for the ninth-best round in program history.

Montana sits eighth out of 14 teams, third among the six Big Sky Conference squads who are competing.

Raina Ports (77-70) is tied for ninth after matching her collegiate-best score with a 2-under 70 in the afternoon round.

Ports had five birdies in her second round. Her seven for the day were one off the tournament lead. She played the par 5's to an average score of 4.70, tying for the best in the field.

"She just calmed down a little bit," said coach Jimmy Mee. "Her group was behind pace-of-play-wise. We had a little decompression talk after her 18th hole. She settled in nicely and played pretty solid."

It's Montana's two freshmen, Hope Torres and Katie Lewis, who sit behind Ports on the team scorecard. Torres (77-73) is tied for 28th, Lewis (76-76) is tied for 39th.

Over 72 holes between them on Monday, the freshmen played just one at double-bogey. Both players carded three birdies.

"They played solid," said Mee. "They don't get themselves into too much trouble. They just go out there and play golf. They have good attitudes and stay positive throughout."

Both golfers had rounds of 74 last week at the Yellowstone Intercollegiate in Bozeman.

"Outside of the first round at Bozeman, they played pretty well," added Mee. "They were our two lowest scorers the final round. They just had to get their feet wet."

Kate Bogenschutz (76-76) is tied for 39th, Salina Lui (81-84) is sitting 75th in the 83-golfer field.

Anna Stensrud (79-81), Bella Johnson (80-80) and Hannah Ports (80-82) are competing as individuals. Stensrud and Johnson are tied for 63rd, Ports is in 71st place.

Santa Clara (295-284), Gonzaga (288-297) and Seattle (293-297) are sitting atop the team leaderboard. Gonzaga's Grace Lee (67-71), at 6-under, leads the field by four strokes.

The tournament concludes on Tuesday with 18 holes.

"We have to quit turning two-putts into three-putts," said Mee. "In our scoring four, we had probably 15 three-putts from 30 feet and in. If we clean up our putting, we knock 15 shots off our round.

"They should be more used to the greens tomorrow. If we can make a few 15-footers instead of three-putting them, it would be pretty cool to see what they could do."

University of Montana Athletics

Players Mentioned

Kate Bogenschutz

Bella Johnson

Katie Lewis

Salina Lui

Hannah Ports

Raina Ports

Anna Stensrud

Hope Torres

Related Videos