PEORIA, Ill. ? Southern Illinois holds a three-shot lead after two rounds of play at the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference women's golf championship, but defending champion Bradley turned in one of the best rounds in program history to move into contention following Monday's play at the par-72, 6,043-yard WeaverRidge Golf Club.
The Salukis entered the day with a three-shot lead on Missouri State, and turned in a second-round 303 to take a two-round score of 609 into Tuesday's final round. Bradley turned in the best round of the tournament with a second-round 296, tying for the third-best round in program history to move into second place. Sophomore Bari-Lynn Erais helped lead the charge with a career-best 70, which ties for the third-best round in school history and is also tied for the fourth-best round in MVC Championship history.
The Braves second-round 296 pulled them to within three shots of Southern Illinois at 612. Missouri State shot 309 during Monday's play and is currently third at 618. Illinois State is fourth in the team standings at 640, while Northern Iowa and Evansville are tied for fifth at 645. First-year program Indiana State is seventh at 649 and fellow first-year program is eighth at 650. Wichita State is ninth at 654 and Creighton rounds out the field in 10th at 669.
Erais followed up her first round 79 with her career-best 70 to take over the top spot on the leaderboard with a score of 149. Junior Rikki Sobel matched her season-low with a second-round 74 and is tied for second, one shot behind Erais at 150. Sobel is tied for second with the Southern Illinois duo of Josie Lowder and Samantha Sutzer.
Junior Whitney Cox and senior Charlotte McGinnis both turned in rounds of 76 Monday to round out the team scoring for the Braves. Cox is tied for 11th at 156 and is one shot in front of McGinnis, who is tied for 14th. Sophomore Lauren Downing turned in an 84 and is tied for 54th at 176, while freshman Jenny Van Kirk was 10 shots better than her first round, with a second-round 89.
Final round action of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Women's Golf Championship will begin at 7:30 a.m. at WeaverRidge Golf Club. The first time for the leaders is slated for 8:24 a.m. off the first tee.
Live stats will be available via the internet on the Golfstat website (www.golfstat.com) at the following address:
http://www.golfstatresults.com/public/index.cfm?tournament_id=944
