Nelson, Carleigh Silvers lead Bears on final day in Hawai'i

By JORDAN FREEMYER
UNCBears.com

KANE'OHE, Hawai'i -- The Northerrn Colorado women's golf team shot a 329 (+41) Wednesday on the final day of Hawai'i's Dr. Donnis Thompson Invitational and finished in 973 strokes (+109) for the tournament and in 13th overall at Kane'ohe Klipper Golf Course.

The Bears finished six strokes behind 12th-place Montana State (967), the only other Big Sky Conference team in the 14-team field.

"We had kind of a disappointing day today," Northern Colorado coach Brandon White said. "We didn't execute our game plan very well."

Texas A&M won the Thompson Invitational team title with a three-round score of 901 (+4), and UC Davis took second (905).

Idaho's Kayla Mortellaro captured medalist honors with a 5-over-par 221. She shot a final round 3-over 75 to win by a stroke over Coastal Carolina's Brittany Henderson and Gonzaga's Alice Kim.

The Bears struggled out of the gate Wednesday, with their five golfers combining to shoot 28 strokes over par through the first four holes of the day.

"We've been working on not making anything worse than bogey, and we had a few doubles today, triples and some really high numbers," White said.

Half of Northern Colorado's shots over par on the day came on those first four holes.

"They did a good job of putting that behind them, and they really played pretty well on the next 14 holes," White said.

Senior Ali Nelson and junior Carleigh Silvers each finished in a tie for 46th in the tournament with three-round scores of 238 (+22). Silvers posted the Bears' best third-round score with an 8-over 80. Nelson shot a 10-over 82 Wednesday.

Senior Chelsea Silvers shot an 86 (+14) in the third round to finish in 68th, with a three-round score of 249 (+33). Senior Emily Dougherty had the Bears' second-best score in round three, a 9-over 81, bringing her three-round score to 254 (+38), good for 75th place.

Junior Hannah McNeley finished just one shot behind Dougherty for the tournament, shooting a 255 (+39) over her three rounds. She shot her second straight 87 (+15) Wednesday after she posted a 9-over 81 in the tournament's opening round.