Following a 10th-place finish at the Jackrabbit Invitational in Nevada two weeks prior, the Bradley women’s golf team hit the road once again — this time, to St. Charles, Missouri, to compete in the Diane Daugherty Invitational last weekend.
A strong finish on the event’s final day helped the Braves come within striking distance of the top 10, but Bradley ultimately settled for 14th place out of 16 competing schools.
After two days and three rounds of golf, Missouri State (904) and South Dakota (911) placed first and second, respectively, and distanced themselves from the rest of the field. Third-place Austin Peay finished 33 strokes behind the invitational’s runner-up, compiling a team score of 944.
A flurry of Missouri Valley Conference competitors occupied spots in the top 10, including Illinois State, Indiana State, Drake, Loyola, Southern Illinois and future MVC member Belmont. Conference foes Northern Iowa and Valparaiso also played but missed the top 10.
A strong surge in the final round propelled the Braves to surpass Northern Iowa, as Bradley recorded the eighth-best third round score to cap off a Tuesday that had the Braves trending upward. Head coach Halley Morell noted that acclimating themselves to the course was the prime contributor for the positive turnaround.
“The greens are difficult on this golf course — the most difficult greens we’ve seen all year,” Morell said. “So I just think getting more familiar with how to play certain putts and chips around the greens made a big difference.”
For the second straight tournament, freshman Maria Perakis led the charge for the Braves, recording a team-low 75 in the third round and carding a 242, which was good for a share of 32nd place.
“Maria’s last round was great,” Morell said. “She really struggled in the first round getting to know the course and just with her game a little bit, but she forgot about what happened on the first day and was able to put together a pretty solid round of 75.”
Sophomore Vaijayanti Bharkhada (245) and junior Mara Flaherty (248) contributed solid performances, while sophomore Harriet Barker (253) and senior Megan Welch (254) rounded out the scores for Bradley.
With the MVC Championship fast approaching in a few weeks, Bradley will have one last competition before the biggest tournament of the spring season. On April 8 and 9, the Braves will participate in the Redbird Spring Invitational in Normal, Illinois.
“We have a lot of momentum going into the Redbird because we know the golf course really well; we play it a lot,” Morell said. “The team is very confident on that golf course, so I think if we can work on a couple of those weaknesses that we saw from this last event, we can use that momentum to carry us through the rest of the spring.”
