DESTIN, Fla. – With senior Kerington Lamb in a deadlock for third place and three additional Trojans in the top-20, the Anderson women's golf team is tied for second place following the second round of the Emerald Coast Classic on Monday.
The three-day, 54-hole event is being hosted by Missouri – St. Louis on a par-71, 5,900 yard Baytowne Golf Club layout.
Nationally fourth-ranked Nova Southeastern continues to pace the 17-team field and widened its lead over the fifth-ranked Trojans and Henderson State to nine shots with 18 holes remaining. No. 12 Lee is fourth, with 24th-ranked Central Missouri in the fifth spot. The host Tritons moved up one spot into sixth place, while Arkansas Tech and Arkansas–Ft. Smith are seventh and eighth, respectively.
UT Tyler vaulted five spots up the leaderboard into ninth place, with West Florida and Lindenwood sharing 10th place. North Georgia, Central Oklahoma, Harding, Oklahoma Baptist, Truman State and Rend Lake Community College finished out the field.
"Today was really overall a solid day," said Anderson Associate Head Coach Denton Moore. "For the second day in a row, it came down to one or two isolated holes. We really played well all day, as we did yesterday. But we have to execute for all 18 holes. Kerington (Lamb) is playing at an All-American level. She has been outstanding since the spring season started. When she plays this way, it honestly makes us feel like we are a national title contender. We are so proud of her and where she sits right now. Seniors Anna (Freeman) and Victoria (Hall) were vital today. They really played well when we needed them. Emma (Charles) has been exceptional this week and continues to show signs of her fall form. This is just a good team, with tons of depth."
Lee's Alex Naumovski (73-66=139) fired a second-round, 5-under-par 66 in Tuesday's second round and moved into the top spot on the individual leaderboard, with Nova Southeastern's Hanna Ahlander (73-68=141) two shots behind in second place. Lamb is even after two rounds and is tied with Nova Southeastern's Ellen Ramstedt (69-73=142) in third place.
Junior Emma Charles, who is playing as an individual, jumped nine spots after firing an even-par-71 on Tuesday and heads into Tuesday's final round tied for fifth, alongside Lee's Lily Bloodworth.
Sophomore Jessica Rathbone is in a three-way tie for 14th place, with senior Victoria Hall jumping 25 spots all the way into a tie for 20th following a 1-over-par 72 in Tuesday's second round. The freshman duo of Kennedy McGaha and Zoey Iglesias are also tied for 20th place, alongside Hall. Senior Anna Freeman slashed nine strokes off her first round and moved into a share of 55th place.
"Hopefully we get to go play tomorrow," added Moore. "The weather projections don't look great, but that makes me want to go out there even more. Our girls are mentally tough and I feel like bad conditions give us a huge advantage. I think we can track down the lead tomorrow if weather allows. If not, we will take a runner up finish and move on to next week in Kentucky."
The final round is slated to get underway Tuesday morning.
NOTABLES
• The second-round team 293 is the fourth-lowest round of the season.
• The 293 matches the 10th-best round in program history.
• The two-round 589 is the seventh-lowest 36-hole total in program history.
• Lamb's opening-round 70 is her lowest of the year.
• Lamb's second-round 72 is her third-lowest round of the year and her two-round 142 is her best 36-hole total of the year.
• Charles' second-round 71 matches her second-lowest round of the year.
• Hall's second-round 72 is her second-lowest round of the year.
• Iglesias' opening-round 73 matches her second-best round of the year.
• AU has not finished lower than fourth in a tournament this year and owns the Patsy Rendleman title and runner-up finishes at both the South Region Preview and the Flagler Fall Slam.
T2 Anderson 296 293 589
T3 Kerington Lamb 70 72 142
T5 Emma Charles* 74 71 145
T14 Jessica Rathbone 71 78 149
T20 Kennedy McGaha 76 75 151
T20 Victoria Hall 79 72 151
T20 Zoey Iglesias* 73 78 151
T55 Anna Freeman 83 74 157
* - Individual
Team Scores
1 Nova Southeastern 290 290 580 +12
T2 Anderson 296 293 589 +21
T2 Henderson State 299 290 589 +21
4 Lee 303 291 594 +26
5 Central Missouri 303 296 599 +31
6 Missouri - St. Louis 307 293 600 +32
7 Arkansas Tech 310 300 610 +42
8 Arkansas-Fort Smith 306 306 612 +44
9 UT Tyler 325 293 618 +50
T10 West Florida 311 308 619 +51
T10 Lindenwood 312 307 619 +51
12 North Georgia 320 311 631 +63
13 Central Oklahoma 320 313 633 +65
14 Harding 317 319 636 +68
15 Oklahoma Baptist 328 311 639 +71
16 Truman State 344 328 672 +104
17 Rend Lake 375 370 745 +177
