Montana shoots 304, moves up two spots

Led by Hannah Ports and Kate Bogenschutz, who were a combined 3-over, the Montana women's golf team shot a 304 on Saturday as the Red Rocks Invitational continued at Oakcreek Country Club in Sedona, Ariz.

Ports shot a 73, her best score since the Sun Mountain Invitational in October, and Bogenschutz carded a 74, her second-best score of the year.

Bella Johnson (75-78) is tied for 30th, Ports (81-73) is tied for 37th, Raina Ports (77-79) and Bogenschutz (82-74) are tied for 43rd and Katie Lewis (79-83) is in 56th place in the 68-golfer field.

The tournament wraps up on Sunday with a final round.

The Grizzlies shot a 312 on Friday as the tournament began, hindered by eight holes played at double-bogey or worse.

Montana cut that in half on Saturday and carded five birdies to move up to a tie for seventh with Southern Illinois with 18 holes to go.

"We definitely took another jump today," said coach Jimmy Mee. "Hannah and Kate really stepped up and played well, and we did a better job of getting rid of the big numbers."

Ports' 73 matched her second-best collegiate round that was not shot on one of Montana's home courses.

Her only better score as a Grizzly away from Missoula was the 71 she shot last spring in the third round of the Bobcat Desert Classic at the Golf Club of Estrella in Goodyear, Ariz.

"She hit it really well yesterday but got a little too tied up with needing to shoot a good score," said Mee.

"We had a long conversation about going out and playing shot by shot by shot instead of worrying about what you're going to shoot. Then at the end of the day add up your score."

Starting Saturday's round on the back nine, Ports opened with seven pars and was 2-over through 15 holes before back-to-back birdies on Nos. 7 and 8. She bogeyed her final hole of the day.

"She did a way better job today staying in the moment and hitting each shot, then hitting the next shot," said Mee.

"If she had gotten the putter going a little bit, it could have been a really special one today because she had a lot of good looks."

Bogenschutz nearly matched Ports, carding two birdies for her round and four bogeys. After avoiding any doubles on Friday, Johnson had two on Saturday on her way to a 78.

Northern Arizona (277-286) will take a 17-stroke lead into Sunday's final round. Gonzaga (289-291) is in second, Grand Canyon (289-295) is in third.

Weber State (286-299), in fourth, also has had a pair of sub-300 rounds through two days.

NAU's Amy Hodgkins (65-72) has a four-stroke lead over GCU's Alexis Vakasiuola (66-75) and fellow Lumberjack Sumin Kang (70-71).

University of Montana Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Kate Bogenschutz

Bella Johnson

Katie Lewis

Hannah Ports

Raina Ports

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