Solid Effort Yields 11th-place Finish

Click to watch the video.

LAS -- Another top-10 finish for one Cougar along with an improved team effort led BYU to an 11th-place finish at the UNLV Spring Invitational.

The Cougars finished at 57-over-par, gradually improving in each round as they went from a +33 first round, a +15 second round and 9-over-par final round to conclude the tournament at their respective finish.

Freshman Maggie Yuan recorded her second consecutive top-10 finish as she ended the tournament tied for eighth place at 4-over-par. A week ago in the Pepperdine Spring Invitational, she tied for second place for her first career top-10 finish as a Cougar. In this tournament, she shot one-under-par in both the second and third rounds by making five birdies and just one bogey on the day.

Natalia Jimenez and Camille Gardner also played consistently as they ended up tied for the No. 52 spot at 17-over-par. Both golfers improved in each successive round by lowering the number of strokes taken and combining for four birdies in the last round.

Sophomores Jade Bollinger and Sara Romero played solid rounds of golf as they improved their scores throughout the course of the tournament and combined for four birdies in the final round. Junior Shayla Forsey golfed individually for the Cougars and shot a 6-over-par final round to end the tourney at 26-over-par.

Mallory Hetzel and Marta Silva of Georgia led the overall field at 2-under-par. Host UNLV won the tournament as a team. Full results of the tournament can be found on golfstat.com.

The Cougars return to action March 24-25 to host the BYU Dixie Classic in St. George.

2009 UNLV Spring Invitational
BYU  11th/18  +57  321-303-297--921
T8  Yuan        78-71-71--220  +4
T52 Jimenez     81-78-74--233  +17
T52 Gardner     80-78-75--233  +17
T61 Bollinger   82-76-77--235  +19
T87 Romero      88-79-78--245  +29
T81 Forsey*     88-79-78--245  +26
* - golfing individually
The field
1  (43) UNLV             +20
2       Texas Tech       +22
3  (8)  Georgia          +30
T4 (38) Oregon           +31
T4 (36) Washington       +31
6  (22) Kent State       +37
7       Tulsa            +38
8       Oregon State     +45
9       Campbell         +46
10      Nebraska         +53
11      BYU              +57
12      Missouri         +60
13      Fresno State     +62
14      Coastal Carolina +66
15      Washington State +67
16      Idaho            +70
17      SMU              +72
18      UNLV-B           +86