AUSTIN, Texas — Led by a 1-under-par scorecard from Lauren Rios, UTSA moved up the leaderboard on the final fay of the Betsy Rawls Invitational at the University of Texas Golf Club (par 72/6,473 yards).
Rios’ 71 helped the Roadrunners register a 303 team total on the final day and leap past BYU and Sam Houston into sole possession of ninth place.
UTSA finished with a 957, knocking 20 strokes off their first-round score with a second-round 317 despite facing cold and windy conditions on Monday before logging a 14-stroke improvement in Tuesday’s final round. The Roadrunners ended up one shot ahead of BYU and 10 strokes back of Boise State in the 16-team field that included seven nationally ranked squads. No. 7 Texas claimed the team title with an 878, followed by ninth-ranked Arkansas (899), No. 31 Oklahoma (904), No. 33 LSU (911), 10th-ranked Pepperdine (914), No. 42 TCU (920) and No. 47 Oregon State (926) in the top seven.
Individually, Rios was the top Roadrunner as the Coppell High School product earned a share of 20th place with a 231. After opening with rounds of 82 and 78, she fired a 1-under 71 to climb a dozen spots to notch her fifth top-25 showing of the season. Her final scorecard was headlined a trio of birdies on a four-hole stretch on the front nine. Starting on No. 5, she wrote down back-to-back birdies on the 461-yard, par-5 fifth and the 374-yard, par-4 sixth. She then countered two bogeys with a birdie on the 392-yard, par-4 third en route to her eighth par-or-better round of the campaign.
Victoria Schuldt tied for 38th with a 238. The true freshman from Germany bounced back from an 83 in the first round with a 79 on Monday afternoon before closing with a 76 that included two of her five birdies for the week.
Daniela Abonce was one shot behind Schuldt in a tie for 41st with a 239. The senior from Mexico settled for an 82-80—162 in Monday’s tough conditions but carded a 77 behind a birdie on the fourth on Tuesday.
Maria Bastarrica and Sydney Bisgrove rounded out the UTSA lineup in 67th (90-82-79—251) and 82nd (95-80-82—257), respectively.
The Roadrunners will continue their busy week by flying to Arizona for the MountainView Collegiate, which will be held Friday-Sunday, March 20-22, in Saddlebrooke.
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