Carleigh Silvers shoots 3-over, ties for 17th in Arkansas

By JORDAN FREEMYER
UNCBears.com

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. -- Northern Colorado junior Carleigh Silvers shot a 3-over-par 75 Tuesday in the final round of the UALR Women's Classic, bringing her three-round score to 224 (+8), good enough for a 17th-place tie.

"She's staying right on track, right where she needs to be," Northern Colorado coach Brandon White said.

Silvers led a Northern Colorado squad that finished the Classic's final round in 317 (+29) strokes at Diamante Country Club. The Bears finished in 18th in the team standings, with a three-round score of 938 (+74).

The University of Texas-El Paso took the team title with a score of 897 (+33) and Middle Tennessee's Karisa Akin was the event medalist with a 1-under 215.

"I feel like yesterday, in the first two rounds, we took two step forwards toward the direction we want to go, and I feel like today we kind of took one step back," White said.

Northern Colorado senior Ali Nelson shot an 8-over 80 Tuesday to finish in a tie for 47th with a Classic score of 231 (+15)

"She played pretty well today, overall, until the last few holes," White said. "I know she struggled coming in. Her last three holes kind of killed her a little bit."

Senior Chelsea Silvers and junior Libby Avery each shot 9-over 81s in the final round. Chelsea Silvers finished the tournament in 80th place, with a three-round score of 240 (+24), while Avery was three strokes behind, at 243 (+27).

Junior Hannah McNeley rounded out the Bears' effort in Hot Springs, shooting a 15-over 87 to put her in 96th place with a score of 251 (+35) for the tournament.

"One thing we did do well this week is we never had to count a round over [82], so that's a positive," White said. "We definitely need those [Nos] 3, 4, and 5 [position] scores to be down in the mid-to-high 70s if we want to consider ourselves contenders for the Big Sky Championship."

The Bears are next in action from April 9 to 11 at the Wyoming Cowgirl Classic at Ocotillo Golf Resort in Chandler, Ariz.--the same course that will host the Big Sky Conference Women's Golf Championship later in April.

"That'll give us a really good idea of where we are at that point," White said.