Samantha Richdale and Ashlie Rose fired matching scores of 78 to lead Illinois State to fifth place after the first round of the St. Croix Collegiate Classic at Carambola Golf Club in the Virgin Islands.
The Redbird duo was tied for seventh place, but just five strokes off the pace of current individual leader Missy Ryan of Southern Methodist. SMU's 295 team score gives the Mustangs a 13-stroke team lead over No. 2 Baylor in the 14-team field. Illinois State is in fifth place with a 318 team score, a stroke a head of No. 6 Illinois and 14 ahead of Missouri Valley Conference rival Wichita State.
Notre Dame and Texas Tech were the other two teams between Illinois State and the leader.
Supporting Richdale and Rose were Ashlee Johnson with an 80, Kaila Fuller with an 88 and Sarah Loomis with an 89. Just three players bested Richdale's 37 on the front nine and only five scores were lower than Rose's 38 for the back nine of Carambola, a par-72, 6,020-yard course.
Play resumes on Saturday in the 54-hole tournament, hosted by Cincinnati's Xavier University.
