SAINT CHARLES, Mo. – Sitting in eighth place after the first 18 holes, the Illinois State women's golf team fought back and climbed four spots over the second 18 holes of the day, and putting themselves in contention for the final round of play on Tuesday.
Illinois State had rounds of 318 over the first 18 holes, and 300 over the second half of the day. The 300 was the lowest in the round by four strokes and tied for the lowest team score for a round in the tournament, and the two-round 618 is tied with Southern Illinois for third place overall. Evansville leads the field with a two-round 604, as UNI is just ahead of the Redbirds with a 614. Missouri State (622), Bradley (628), Drake (632), Indiana State (642), Loyola Chicago (649), and Valparaiso (690) round out the 10 schools in the field.
The 10 schools head back to the course on Tuesday morning for the final 18 holes to determine the 2021 Missouri Valley Conference champion. The Redbirds will take to the final round alongside Missouri State and Bradley in an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start for the final round.
Three Redbird golfers – Maria Toledo Bailey, Ali Schrock, and Emma Sutton – are tied for eighth individually in the 50-person field, while Emma Rouger is tied for 24th, and Becca Black tied for 36th.
It was a tale of two rounds for the Redbirds, as four of the five ISU golfers improved their scores from the first to the second 18 holes. Toledo Bailey, the only player to shoot better in the first round, shot a strong 75 over the first 18 holes, which included a birdie and a dozen pars to finish four strokes over par. In her second round she finished two strokes higher, as she had a trio of birdies over the final 18 holes, along with eight pars, finishing with a two-round 153.
Sutton, a senior, carded an opening-round 77 where she had a pair of birdies as well as nine pars for the six-over 18-hole score. She had 11 pars over her final 18 holes, finishing a stroke better than her opening round, as her 77-76 was the most even pairing for Illinois State on the day and is tied for eighth with 18 holes to play in the tournament.
Schrock had an up-and-down opening round in which she recorded a team-high three birdies but had 10 over-par scores and five pars. The sophomore Pontiac, Illinois, native had the biggest turnaround from the first to second round, as she ended her second round with an even-par 71in which she had three birdies, three bogeys, and a dozen pars to climb into the top-10 in the individual field.
Rouger had eight pars over her first round, along with 10 holes where she was over par for an opening-round 84. Rouger improved her score by nine strokes between the two rounds, as she had a birdie and 12 pars over the final 18 holes for a four-over 75 in the final round and ended the day 17 strokes over par with a 159.
Black had an even first 18 holes, as all of her scores were either par or bogey, shooting an opening-round 85. She bounced back well, including birdies on back-to-back holes (13th and 14th), and ended the second round with an eight-over 79.
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