GAINESVILLE, Ga. – After struggling on the front nine, the Anderson women's golf team regrouped and finished strong by carding nine birdies over the final six holes and is in second place following most of the second-round action, Tuesday at the 2023 NCAA South Region Championship.

With just a little more than half the golfers – and nearly half of the top teams - completing the round, play was suspended for the second time of the afternoon and will resume Wednesday morning.

The three-day, 54-hole championship is being hosted by North Georgia at the par 72, 5,922-yard Chattahoochee Golf Club.

"Overall, I'm happy with the round today," said Anderson Head Women's Coach Denton Moore. "We got off to maybe the worst start we have all year. Got some bad breaks, made some simple mistakes and didn't take advantage of scoring opportunities. But I am extremely happy with the very strong finish from the girls. They knew we were going downhill, and it was starting to snowball on us. They did a phenomenal job of getting through 10-13 relatively unscathed. Then they caught fire coming home to really save the round for us, and kept us in good position."

While going head-to-head against a field that includes half of the top-20 teams in the nation, the Trojans labored through the first dozen holes before responding by carding nine birdies over the final six holes.

AU slipped out of its' first-place tie with Lynn and trails the No. 1-ranked Knights by eight strokes, while leading third-place Tampa by one shot. Lee is in fourth place - 12 shots behind Tampa - with third-ranked Nova Southeastern climbing four spots and passing both Limestone and Lander for the moment. The Saints fell two spots and are currently in sixth place, while the Bearcats hold the seventh slot. Rollins is in eighth place, with Wingate, Barry, Flagler and UNC Pembroke rounding out the 12-team field.

Tampa's Ana Maria Jimenez Rios (74-71—145) holds a one-shot lead over Nova Southeastern's Haruka Muta (72-74—146) in the battle for individual medalist honors, with Limestone's Sarah Mardani (76-71—147) vaulting 14 spots inro a share of third place, alongside Lynn's Sara Ericsson (72-72—147) and Isabelle Schlick (74-73—147). For the moment, Wingate's Hailey McLaughlin (76-) also jumped 14 spots and is tied for third, but still has six of the toughest holes on the course to wrap up her second round.

Limestone's Maria Morales and Lynn's Adriana Iribarren, who shared the lead after Monday's opening round, fell eight spots and are tied for ninth.

AU junior Jessica Rathbone continues to lead the Trojans and is tied for seventh place, alongside Lynn's Maria Hoyos heading into Wednesday's final round after firing a 3-over-par 75 on Tuesday. Sophomore Zoey Iglesias also carded a 3-over 75 on Tuesday and is one shot further back in a five-way tie for ninth place.

Rathbone and Iglesias are just three and four strokes, respectively, off the pace set by Jimenez Rios.

Grad student Kerington Lamb birdied three of her final five holes and shares 15th place, with sophomore Kennedy McGaha recording birdies on three of the last six holes and is tied for 25th place. Freshman Kennedy Gooding sliced five strokes off Monday's first round and moved up 12 spots into a tie for 31st place by posting a pair of birdies on both the front and back nines.

"Kennedy Gooding had a great bounce back round today," added Moore. "She really executed well and made some birdies. KK, Zoey, and Jess were all rock solid again today. K Mac had a rough front nine, but really executed well on the back, and a lot like KG yesterday, found something for tomorrow. We are in good position. Now we have to go execute at a high level one more round to punch our ticket to the national championship. I'm looking forward to getting back out there with the girls and hopefully getting the job done tomorrow."

Nationally, 48 teams and 24 individuals are competing this week in the regional competition of the 2023 NCAA Division II Women's Golf Championship.

The top five teams from the regional along with the top two individuals not on an advancing team will move on to the NCAA Division II National Championships, which are slated for May 16-20 at the Fox Run Golf Club in Eureka, Mo.

The six teams that still need to complete the second round will get underway with a 7 a.m. shotgun start on Wednesday, with the third and final round slated for a 10:30 a.m. start.

Notables
• The Trojans' second-round 301 marked the fourth-lowest score in their NCAA Regional Tournament history.
• Anderson, which finished fourth a year ago, is seeking its second consecutive appearance on the national stage.
• The Trojans' first-round 9-over-par 297 marked the third-lowest score in AU's NCAA Regional Tournament history.
• Rathbone's opening-round 1-over 73 matched the seventh-best round in AU's NCAA Regional Tournament history.
• Iglesias' first-round 2-over 74 matched the 10th-best round in AU's NCAA Regional Tournament history.
• Lynn is a two-time national champion and is looking to defend its South Region title.
• Nova Southeastern has won four national championships.
• Rollins has captured six national titles.
• Lee is making its sixth regional appearance since 2016.
• Limestone finished last year as regional runners-up, as well as national runners-up.
• Lynn's Maria Hoyos, who is the top-ranked golfer in the nation, moved up 18 spots on Tuesday.
• Rollins' senior Katharina Hesse, who is ranked second nationally, is in the logjam for ninth place.

2 Anderson 297 301 598
T7 Jessica Rathbone 73 75 148
T9 Zoey Iglesias 74 75 149
T15 Kerington Lamb 75 76 151
T25 Kennedy McGaha 75 78 153
T31 Kennedy Gooding 80 75 155

Teams Scores
1 Lynn 297 293 590 +14
2 Anderson 297 301 598 +22
3 Tampa 300 299 599 +23
4 Lee 309 302 611 +35
5 Nova Southeastern 314 298 612 +36
6 Limestone 304 --- --- +38
7 Lander 310 --- --- +40
8 Rollins 312 305 617 +41
9 Wingate 314 --- --- +42
10 Barry 314 --- --- +44
11 Flagler 319 --- --- +52
12 UNC Pembroke 313 --- --- +57