No. 38 women win first WCC Championship, Garner and Huang tie for second

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DANVILLE, Calif. — After leading the tournament through the first two days of competition, No. 38 BYU women's golf held on in Wednesday's third round to win its first West Coast Conference Championship title. The win puts an end to Pepperdine's 14-year championship win streak. 

"It means everything to us to win this event," BYU head coach Carrie Roberts said. "It was a record-breaking year for tournament wins and to win the conference tournament makes it that much better. It's hard to win a championship and the girls fought hard for it and earned it. I am so proud of them, especially Lea. She has carried us for four years. We played solid in this tournament. We didn't play our best today, but good enough to win. Yesterday's strong finish was huge for us."

The Cougars finished the WCC Championship at 20 over, shooting 13 over in Wednesday's round. BYU shot even par and +7 respectively in rounds one and two. With the win, BYU won its first ever WCC women's golf title. The Cougars placed fifth last year. 

Starting on the back nine, BYU shot 5 over as a team. The Cougars then finished the front nine shooting 8 over. Gonzaga put pressure on BYU as the Bulldogs shot 2 over in round three, putting them within three strokes of the Cougars late in the final round. Three Cougars finished in the top-10 individually, with all five competitors finishing in the top-20.

Lea Garner finished the three-day event tied for second place. Her second-place finish is the first of the season and third of her BYU career. Garner posted a 77 in Wednesday's round. She finished the WCC Championship at 3 over.

Shooting the best individual score of any Cougar on the day, Rose Huang shot 1 over, Wednesday. Huang shot even par on the back nine and finished shooting 1 over on the front. Her total overall score of 219 helped her to a second-place tie with Garner. With her top-5 finish, Huang now totals five top-5 finishes in her freshman campaign.

Kendra Dalton tied for sixth place, shooting 4 over par in the final round, finishing the tournament at  5 over. Dalton now has four top-10 finishes this season. She birdied four holes on the day.

Shooting a final round score of 78, Alexandra White finished the championship at 12 over. White concluded the tournament in 15th place. Brooklyn Hocker tied for 19th place, shooting 16 over through three days of play. Hocker shot 3 over today, shooting even par on the front nine.

The Cougars will continue postseason play May 5-7 at the NCAA West Regional.

WCC Championship - April 18-20, 2016