Lamar sports information

MONTGOMERY – Lamar sophomore Elodie Chapelet tied for fifth place as the Cardinals placed fourth at the Southland Conference Women’s Golf Championship that concluded Wednesday.

Chapelet fired a 1-over-par 72 to finish the tourney at 12-over 225 for 54 holes on the par-71, 6,191-yard layout of the Woodforest Golf Club. As a team, the Cardinals posted a 303 score Wednesday, their best round of the tournament to finish at 923 for the event.

The Cardinals finished seven shots behind Sam Houston State, which finished third at 916. Houston Baptist won its second straight team title, posting a score of 898. Central Arkansas was second in the eight-team field at 907.

“We had a much better day today, highlighted by Elodie’s 72,” LU coach Jessica Steward said. “We were really hoping to jump into third place, and I think we had our heads in the right place, but unfortunately we just couldn’t get there.”

Chapelet was steady throughout her final round, with 15 pars, one birdie and two bogeys.

The Cardinals had three players finish in the top half of the leaderboard. Eva Martinez finished tied for 13th at 232 after a final round of 77, while Felicia Sauceda wrapped up her career by tying for 18th at 235 after shooting a 78 on Wednesday. Senior Olivia Le Roux finished in a tie for 23rd at 237 after an 81, while freshman Brooke Duzan tied for 26th after posting her best round of the tourney, carding a 5-over-par 76. Duzan finished the day with nine consecutive pars.

“We set a goal to play stronger on the back nine,” Steward said. “Most of our players improved in that regard, especially Brooke.”

Houston Baptist’s Kaity Cummings earned medalist honors at 7-over 220, two strokes ahead of Sam Houston State’s Hannah Alberto. Cummings’ 1-under 70 on Wednesday was the only round below par for the entire tournament.

LU ended the tournament 14 strokes ahead of fifth-place Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, which finished fifth at 937. Incarnate Word was sixth at 945, followed by McNeese State at 951 and Stephen F. Austin at 953.

“I was very proud of the way we handled some adversity this season,” Steward said. “We’re going to miss Olivia and Felicia, but we have a good returning core of players for next season to go along with some quality newcomers. We want to contend for the conference championship next year.”