Yellowjacket women tee off Monday in Billings

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Evan O’Kelly Director of Communications O: (406) 657-2130 E: evan.okelly@msubillings.edu Thursday, March 23, 2017 Yellowjacket women tee off Monday in Billings

MSUB’s women’s golf team hosts a tournament at Lake Hills Golf Club Monday and Tuesday, for its only home event of the spring season.

BILLINGS, Mont. – Set to tee off at its lone home event of the 2017 season, the Montana State University Billings women’s golf team will host the Yellowjacket Spring Invite Monday and Tuesday at Lake Hills Golf Club.

The seven-team women’s field will feature competition against Black Hills State University, Minot State University, Rocky Mountain College, Montana Tech, Carroll College, and the University of Great Falls. The field of 39 total women will play a par-72, 6,119-yard layout at Lake Hills, with 36 total holes spread over two days.

“The women got off to a great start in Vegas, and all five players played really good golf over two days,” said MSUB head coach Kevin Woodin. “I’m looking for them to have their best score yet (this week), and the one area we haven’t played to our potential yet is our putting. Hopefully getting on our own greens for these two days will help us putt well, and if we do that then I think our scores will be better.”

MSUB competed earlier this week at the Cal State Monterey Bay Otter Invite, and the team’s home tournament starting Monday will be its third of four events in the spring prior to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships in April.

Juniors Bailee Dexter and Sammy Walter, and sophomore Shealyn Hafer are currently 8-9-10 in the GNAC in scoring average, with the first two at 79.5 and Hafer at 79.6 through 11 rounds this season.

Dexter had her third-best tournament of the year at the Beaver-Jacket Invite in Las Vegas, posting a two-round total of 159 (82-77). “The spring is always tough to get started, but for the most part I think we’ve been doing decent,” Dexter said. “I’m hoping that we can each play well on the same day, and our goal is to all be in the 70s.”

Walter, who finished her fall with a career-best 72 and a GNAC Player of the Week honor, is even with Dexter in scoring average this year. Her 146 (72-74) at the Western Washington Invite in October tied the school record, and she tied for first place at the event for her top finish of the year.

Posting the team’s top score in its most recent round on Tuesday, Hafer enters the tournament at Lake Hills with momentum in the early spring. The 75 she shot in Round 1 in Las Vegas was her personal-best in college, and she’ll look to return to her career-low score of 154 (76-78) she shot the last time the team played in Billings at the Rocky Invite in October.

After leading the team with a 155 (74-81) and finishing second overall at the Beaver-Jacket Invite two weeks ago, sophomore Kortney McNeil was picked as the GNAC Player of the Week. Her big finish included a personal season-best round of 74, and she helped the Yellowjackets run away with the team title.

Senior Haley Shackelford will round out the field of competitors this week, and she enters the tournament with a season scoring average of 84.36. Shackelford has had a pair of top-10 finishes in six events and a season-low score of 78.

Monday’s women’s tournament will start at 9 a.m. with the competitors playing 18 holes the first day. Action will resume Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. with the completion of the second round.

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