May 9, 2008
Final Stats
AUSTIN, Texas - Redshirt sophomore Marisa Milligan carded another stellar second nine of her round, but the 20th-seeded Illinois State women's golf team suffered a rough day in day two of the NCAA Central Regional at the University of Texas Golf Club in Austin, Texas Friday. The Redbirds finished the second round with a 34-over par 320, seven strokes more than ISU shot in Thursday's opening round. The Redbirds enter Saturday's final round in 20th place, 62 strokes ahead of 21st-place Farleigh Dickinson.
"This was certainly not the score we were looking for," said head coach Darby Sligh. "We really feel like this is a course that we can score well on. But this week has been a learning experience for this team. We know that we have a low round in us; we are just waiting for everything to come together in one single day. We started out a lot better than we did yesterday, but the middle part of our round really hurt us. We left a lot of shots out there."
The Redbirds, who had eight birdies on the day as a team, started the round on the back nine, which played much tougher than the front side in Thursday's opening round. Milligan shot a four-over par 40 on the back, but again charged back after making the turn, playing the front nine in a one-under par score of 35. She had four birdies on the day, including two in the final nine holes.
"Marisa really held it together, especially after making the turn," Sligh said. "We just need her to start a little quicker out of the gate. Marisa is absolutely on her way. She is a great addition to our team, and when she figures out how to settle down at the start of her round, she is going to be a special player for us."
Stacey Miller strung together a solid second nine after getting into trouble in the opening nine holes. Miller had five bogies and one double bogie on the opening back nine, but came back with a two-over par 38 on the front side to finish the day with an 11-over par score of 83.
Tiffany Hockensmith, who shot 76 in Thursday's opening round, played Friday's second round with 10 bogies and two double bogies, but eagled the par-five fifth, holing out a 50-yard shot to gain two quick strokes back. She finished the day with an 11-over par 83.
Laura Harris had four pars and one birdie in the opening nine holes, but played the ensuing front nine with a five-over-par 41, which dropped her score to an eight-over par 81.
Marci Hill carded pars in the first six holes of her round, but did not record another par until the par-four fourth, a span of seven holes. She finished the day with an 11-over par 83.
Third and final round action gets underway Saturday, with the Redbirds teeing off at 1:20 p.m. Live scoring will be available on both GoRedbirds.com and GolfStat.com.
