Eatonton, Ga. – Elizabeth Lohbauer cut three strokes off her consecutive scores of 74 from Friday and Saturday, shooting a final-round score of 1-under par 71 on Sunday to advance two positions to come home in a three-way tie for fourth to lead Western Carolina at the Reynolds Lake Oconee Invitational at the par-72, 6,107-yard Great Waters Golf Club.
 
In addition to Lohbauer, sophomore Brie Mapanao moved up 10 spots with an even-par round of 72 on the event's final day to come home tied with five others for 15th place in the final rankings.
 
Despite seeing upward movement in the individual standings from its top two golfers, Western Carolina was unable to advance from its 10th place standing over the final 18 holes, finishing with a three-round total of 923.
 
Beginning the day on the par-4 10th, Lohbauer played the back nine at 3-under par, securing three straight birdies between holes No. 14 and No. 16. She managed to score par on seven of her final nine holes with bogeys on the par-4 third and par-5 sixth, her lone blemishes for the 1-under par 71 round. The Venice, Fla., product led Western Carolina with eight birdies on the weekend, finishing with a three-day total of 219 (74-74-71).
 
Mapanao shot even-par through her first five holes on Sunday before countering a bogey on No. 16 with a birdie on the par-3 17th. She moved to 3-under par for the day with a pair of birdies on the front nine on the par-4 third and fifth. However, bogeys on two of her final five holes including the par-4 10th – her last hole of the day – relegated her to even-par for the day and 225 (76-77-72) for the event. Mapanao matched Lohbauer for a team-high 36 pars over the tournament's 54 holes.
 
Ladd slid six spots on Sunday with a final round score of 8-over par 80 despite carding three of her seven birdies that ranked her second on the Catamount squad. She finished tied for 64th with a three-round tally of 239.
 
Rounding out WCU's scoring five were redshirt junior Kayleigh Baker in 74th at 245 and junior Kaitlyn Wingnean in 81st overall at 255. Both Baker and Wingnean posted two of their four birdies on Sunday. Baker was poised for a strong finish at 6-over par with four holes to play before a costly +5 on the par-4 ninth. She rebounded, though, to shoot even par over her final four holes where she had a pair of bogeys over the first two days of competition.
 
Playing unattached as an individual, sophomore Sadler Miller slipped 17 spots on Sunday to come home in a three-way tie for 71st overall with a three-day score of 243. Miller posted a final-round score of 85, collecting the second of her two birdies in the tournament.
 
Sweeping two-thirds of the podium and placing three inside the individual Top 10, tournament host Mercer cruised to the team championship at its home event by 26 strokes over second-place Western Kentucky. The Bears carded a tournament-low team round of 280 on Sunday to shoot 863 over the 54 holes while the Hilltoppers were second at 889. Chattanooga finished third at 896, with East Carolina finishing fourth a stroke back at 897. Delaware slid one spot into a two-way tie with Boston College which climbed three positions on Sunday as the two matched with scores of 906.
 
Mercer's Mikayla Dubnik and Camila Jarvela took the top two positions with Dubnik shooting 4-under par 212 to best her teammate Jarvela by two strokes at 214.
 
Western Carolina returns to action in its third event of the spring season on March 5-7, traveling to Humacao, Puerto Rico, and the Palmas del Mar – Flamboyan for the Puerto Rico Classic hosted by Ball State. The 54-hole stroke play tournament will be contested over three days in WCU's second event outside the contiguous 48 states this season.
 
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10 – Western Carolina – 306 – 311 – 306 = 923 (+59)
T4 – Elizabeth Lohbauer – 74 – 74 – 71 = 219 (+3)
T15 – Brie Mapanao – 76 – 77 – 72 = 225 (+8)
T64 – Victoria Ladd – 76 – 83 – 80 = 239 (+23)
74 – Kayleigh Baker – 80 – 82 – 83 =245 (+29)
81 – Kaitlyn Wingnean – 80 – 78 – 87 = 255 (+39)
T71 – Sadler Miller – 82 – 76 – 85 = 243 (+27)