Panama City Beach, Fla. – Redshirt freshman Kayleigh Baker carded Western Carolina's best individual round of the spring-opening tournament in Tuesday's final 18 holes while true freshman Elizabeth Lohbauer paced the Catamounts in a four-way tie for 16th as WCU finished eighth at the Lady Bison Classic at Bay Point presented by Under Armour.
 
Teams completed Monday's suspended second round before beginning the final 18 holes after darkness halted play just a few holes shy of completion
 
Lohbauer advanced eight spots over the final round into the 16th-place tie by posting her tournament-best round of 4-over par 76 after capping the second 18 holes at 6-over par 78. The Venice, Fla., native birdied her first hole of the final round to start at 1-under before the first of five bogeys moved her back to even-par. Even through two holes, Lohbauer posted 10-consecutive pars before closing the event four-over-par.
 
Baker was WCU's biggest gainer by moving 12 spots over the final round into a tie for 27th overall, shooting a team-best 2-over par 74, her third-best career score, for a three-round total of 236. Baker finished tied for the tournament lead with nine birdies over the opening 54 holes of the spring including five over the last 18 holes. Baker finished tied with senior Madison Isaacson (236) who posted 35 pars over the three-round event, tied for the fourth-most among the 87-golfer field.
 
Rounding out WCU's side was junior Victoria Ladd (237) in a two-way tie for 32nd, a stroke behind teammates Baker and Isaacson, with sophomore Trinity Ahing (255) in a tie for 67th overall. Ahing joined Lohbauer as two Catamounts to chart eagles in the tournament.
 
USC Upstate (916) vaulted to the top of the team leaderboard from a third-place tie over the final 18 holes to win the tournament by six strokes over runner-up, Jacksonville State (922). The Spartans turned in a tournament-low 297 in the final round. Host Lipscomb finished nine strokes off the pace at 925 in third with SoCon foe Wofford (927) advancing two spots into fourth with Georgia State (929) rounding out the top five.
 
Wofford's Becca Earl claimed individual medalist honors, advancing one position in the final round to win by two strokes. Earl capped her tournament with a 1-under par round of 71 to shoot 4-over 220 to edge second-round leader Beem Pabsimma (222) of USC Upstate and Berta Sanchez Sabe (223) of Jacksonville State.
 
Western Carolina returns to action in a month, traveling to the South Carolina Lowcountry and Charleston for the Oyster Shuck Match Play, hosted by league-foe The Citadel at the Charleston Municipal Golf Course March 7-8.
 
Keep track of everything related to Catamount women's golf and WCU Athletics through its social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/catamountsports), Instagram (@wcu_catamounts), and Twitter (@catamounts, @CatamountWGolf).
 
 
8 – Western Carolina – 312 – 321 - 309 = 942 (+78)
T16 – Elizabeth Lohbauer – 79-78-76 = 233 (+17)
T27 – Madison Isaacson – 76-78-82 = 236 (+20)
T27 – Kayleigh Baker – 79-83-74 = 236 (+20)
T32 – Victoria Ladd – 78-82-77 = 237 (+21)
T67 – Trinity Ahing – 85-85-85 = 255 (+39)