MONTGOMERY, ALA. - - The Belmont women’s golf team finished the Troy Women’s Invitational in third place, the highest team placing for the Bruins this season, at the Arrowhead Country Club in Montgomery, Ala. on Tuesday. Junior Lorie Warren (Hendersonville, Tenn.) shot a final round tournament-low score of 74 to finish tied for second in the individual standings, only one shot off of the winner, Daniele Dunlop of Nichols State. Jacksonville State won the team completion with a score of 611, while Belmont finished eight shots back with a score of 619. Nicholls State finished in second with a final team score of 616.

This is the second tournament this season that Warren has finished as the runner-up in the individual competition. The other tournament was the Great Smokies Intercollegiate from Sept. 29-30.

“Lorie played well today,” said Belmont women’s golf head coach Lissa Bradford. “She showed perseverance coming back today and shooting a low score like 74.”

Junior Lauren Oeser (Old Hickory, Tenn.) continued her strong play from the first round to shoot a second round score of 79 to finish the tournament with a score of 157, good enough to place tied for 26th in the standings. Freshman Lauren Spurlock (Germantown, Tenn.) shot a final round score of 81 to also finish with a score of 157.

Senior Rebekah Wilson (Nashville, Tenn.) and junior Ashleigh Garman (Brentwood, Tenn.) each shot a final round score of 77, the second-lowest in the round for the Bruins. Wilson finished with a total score of 158 to place tied for 32nd and Garman shot 165 to finish tied for 62nd.

“We’re excited to end the fall season with a good performance today, moving from fifth place to third in the final round,” said Bradford. “Yesterday was rough playing with winds early in the day that many other teams didn’t compete with accept for Jacksonville, who shot a great first round and deserved the win.”

Belmont has concluded its fall season and Coach Bradford is happy with the effort of her team.

“We’ve had some bumps in the road this fall, especially dealing with rainy conditions,” said Bradford. “This was a good end to our fall season and the girls have showed tremendous perseverance balancing academic studies and traveling to play golf and missing days in class.”

The Bruins will resume play at the Jacksonville Intercollegiate hosted by Jacksonville University on February 25, 2008.