Southern in sixth at Islander Classic

Monday, February 27

Corpus Christi, TX

All Day

Southern Illinois University

Islander Classic

02/27/2017 | 7:11:00 | Women's Golf

By: Tony McDaniel, SIUSalukis.com

In what is shaping up to be a competitive tournament, the Southern Illinois women's golf team is in sixth place out of 12 teams at the Islander Classic in Corpus Christi, Texas.

The Salukis shot a 299 in the opening round and a 314 in the second. Sam Houston State leads the tournament and is 15 strokes ahead of SIU. Dallas Baptist is in second, nine strokes behind Sam Houston State.

"In the opening round we were more confident. The execution was there," head coach Alexis Mihelich said. "In the second round the team just ran out of gas. We weren't converting sand saves and couldn't hit fairways and greens in regulation."

The middle of the leaderboard is congested, with third through eighth place separated by just seven strokes. Southern is only five shots out of a three-way tied for third with McNeese State and Texas – Rio Grande Valley. The Salukis could easily finish as high as third depending on tomorrow's results.

Individually, Brooke Cusumano is pacing the Salukis at 4-over-par, which is good for 7th place overall. She shot 1-under-par 71 in the first round and a 77 in the second. The senior moved into third on SIU's all-time list of rounds in the 70's after the first round. She is five rounds away from a tie for second all-time.

Senior Kristie Yang is also in the top-20. She is tied for 17th after shooting a 75 in the first round and a 78 in the second. Sophomore Sun Jung, who was playing as an individual, withdrew from the tournament after the first round with an injury.

Texas – Rio Grande Valley's Shweta Mansingh leads the Islander Classic by two strokes. She was 2-under-par 142 for the day. Cusumano is six strokes behind Mansingh and only four strokes from second place. Yang needs to pick up three strokes to have a crack at her third-straight top-10 finish. She is one stroke short of keeping her run of five straight top-15 finishes unbroken.

"It's realistic to move up to third. We will play it one shot at a time and see how many spots we can move up. The team isn't pleased with where we are now so I know they will comeback strong," Mihelich said.

The final round of the Islander Classic will be played tomorrow. Teams will tee off at 8:30 a.m. Live stats will be available on golfstat.com.

Team Leaderboard
1 Sam Houston State                       294 300      594 +18
2 Dallas Baptist                                 301 302      603 +27
T3 McNeese State                              294 314      608 +32
T3 UT Rio Grande Valley                  301 307      608 +32
5 Wyoming                                         308 304      612 +36
6 Southern Illinois                              299 314      613 +37
7 Texas A&M - Corpus Christi          303 311      614 +38
8 Lamar                                              310 305      615 +39
9 Incarnate Word                                 310 316      626 +50
10 ULM                                              313 316      629 +53
11 McLennan CC                                322 317      639 +63
12 Texas A&M-Kingsville                 328 339      667 +91

Player Scores
T7 Brooke Cusamano             (2) 71 77 148
T17 Kristie Yang                                (1) 75 78 153
T29 Alice Ho                                      (5) 74 82 156
T36 Hanna Netisingha                        (3) 79 79 158
T44 Xianmei Jin                                  (4) 80 80 160