Lamar sports information

MONTGOMERY — The Lamar Cardinals climbed up two spots on the leaderboard Tuesday, moving into fourth place heading into the final day of the Southland Conference Women’s Golf Championship.

LU, which started the day in sixth place, moved past McNeese State and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and to within four strokes of third-place Sam Houston State. Led by Elodie Chapelet and Felicia Sauceda, who each had a 5-over-par 76, the Cardinals had the second-lowest team score of the day, a 25-over-par 309 on the par-71, 6,191-yard layout at the Woodforest Golf Club.

Chapelet ended the round tied for ninth place in the 40-player field at 11-over 153, eight strokes behind Houston Baptist’s Alisa Chong, who leads the medalist race at 3-over 145. Chong shot a 74 on Tuesday. Fernanda Lira of Central Arkansas is second at 6-over 148.

Chong’s effort helped Houston Baptist increase its lead over second-place Central Arkansas to 12 strokes. The Huskies, who had a two-stroke lead entering the second round, had a team score of 300 on Tuesday to end the day at 29-over-par 597. Central Arkansas is at 609, Sam Houston is at 616, followed by LU at 620 in the eight-team event. The Cardinals are six strokes in front of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, which is fifth at 626.

LU’s 309 was a two-stroke improvement over Monday’s 311. It’s more impressive that it came on a day when the average round of 79.80 was more than two strokes higher per golfer than Monday’s average of 77.78.

“Our goal was to climb back up the leaderboard, and we did just that,” LU coach Jessica Steward said. “We also put ourselves in a position to fight for a top-three finish.”

The Cardinals have four players in the top 20 of the event. Eva Martinez is in sole possession of 14th place at 155 after an 80 on Tuesday. Olivia Le Roux is tied for 15th at 156 after a 77 in the second round. Sauceda, who started the day tied for 34th, vaulted into a tie for 19th at 157 heading into the final round. Brooke Duzan of the Cardinals is tied for 33rd at 163 after posting an 83 on Tuesday.

“Although we didn’t gain quite as many strokes on the leaders as we would have liked, having the second-lowest round of the day is an accomplishment,” Steward said. “It was windy, and that made the course tough.”

The 393-yard, par-4 18th hole proved to be a nemesis for the Cardinals, as Sauceda and Duzan each had a double-bogey, while Martinez had a triple-bogey to end her round. The 18th hole was the toughest hole on the course Tuesday, with just one birdie and 13 pars. There were 14 bogeys, eight double-bogeys and four scores of triple-bogey or worse.

“We had a disappointing finish, but overall it was a good day,” LU coach Jessica Steward said. “We were sitting in third place until the final few holes.”

The Cardinals will be teamed with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in Wednesday’s final round. Stephen F. Austin and Incarnate Word will open the final round at 8 a.m. Duzan will be the first Cardinal to tee off, starting her round at 8:45 a.m. The final grouping of Houston Baptist, Central Arkansas and Sam Houston State tees off at 9:30 a.m.

“Our goal for Wednesday is to stay focused and finally come together on the back nine,” Steward said. “We want to finish strong and sit in third at the worst, but hopefully we can take a stab at second place.”