Women's golf finishes in sixth at Dale McNamara

TULSA, Okla. - Facing the most challenging field they'll play in this season, the Middle Tennessee women's golf team shot a third round 17-over 305 to place sixth in the 16-team Dale McNamara Invitational at Patriot Golf Club in Tulsa, Okla.

"I think we could have finished better, but we still showed some of these teams that we belong," head coach Chris Adams said. "We've shown we can play with them, but yesterday really hurt us. That said, we can play better than we did this week, and we still have some work to do."

The event featured 11 teams that entered the week ranked in the Golfstat.com Top 100, including Sun Belt foe and 46th-ranked UALR, who finished 8th in the event.

Karisa Akin was the top Blue Raider golfer in the tournament, finishing tied for seventh in the 90-player field at five-over after shooting an even-par 72 on in the final round.

"Karisa really had her short game going," Adams said. "This is a longer course and she's not always suited to these kind of courses. For her to finish in the top 10 is pretty impressive."

Ashley Haggard, who entered the day tied for second, carded a third round 10-over 82 to finish tied for ninth at seven-over.

"It was a bit of a tough day for Ashley," Adams said. "She had a tough sixth hole, and it's difficult to come back from that when you're trying to win the tournament."

Morgan Hale, who had a difficult outing on Tuesday, rebounded with a three-over 75, finishing the event at 18-over and tying for 44th.

"Even though the conditions were a lot harder today, Morgan got rolling early," Adams said. "That's a testament to her. Not everyone can put up an 11 on the 18th hole like she did yesterday and respond with a strong start the next morning."

Olivia Love and Stephanie Smith both shot a seven-over 79 in the third round, finishing tied for 37th and 62nd, respectively.

The Blue Raiders will now prepare for their final tournament of the season at the Paladin Invitational. The three-day event will begin on Oct. 29 at Furman Golf Course in Greenville, S.C.

TEAM SCORES
1. Oklahoma - 292-291-294 (+13)
T2. Oklahoma State - 301-290-309 (+36)
T2. Texas - 297-302-301 (+36)
4. Tulsa - 303-295-305 (+39)
5. UNLV - 292-307-306 (+41)
6. Middle Tennessee - 293-309-305 (+43)
7. Kennesaw State - 305-307-307 (+55)
8. UALR - 301-312-310 (+59)
9. Wichita State - 310-313-306 (+65)
10. Kansas State - 306-321-304 (+67)
11. Missouri - 314-305-313 (+68)
T12. Long Beach State - 301-307-328 (+72)
T12. Oral Roberts - 309-317-310 (+72)
14. Nebraska - 311-313-314 (+74)
15. SMU - 314-327-321 (+98)
16. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi - 330-317-329 (+112)

MT SCORES
T7. Karisa Akin - 73-76-72 (+5)
T9. Ashley Haggard - 69-72-82 (+7)
T37. Olivia Love - 78-76-79 (+17)
T44. Morgan Hale - 73-86-75 (+18)
T62. Stephanie Smith - 78-85-79 (+26)

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