Hilton Head Island, S.C. – Western Carolina women's golf slipped off the podium on Sunday in the final round of the Low Country Intercollegiate, sliding one position to come home fourth in the final team standings to record its fifth Top Five finish of the season at the par-72, 6,009-yard South Course at the Moss Creek Golf Club.
 
WCU shot a final round 315 for a three-day total of 927, two strokes behind third-place USC Upstate as the Spartans rallied two spots over the final 18 holes.
 
Sophomore Brie Mapanao was WCU's top finisher on Sunday, fighting through a final-round 8-over par 80 to come home tied for 16th with a three-round total of 231. Mapanao carded 10 pars and a total of eight bogeys, slipping nine spots over the final 18 holes.
 
Fifth-year senior Victoria Ladd and junior Elizabeth Lohbauer both finished in a tie for 24th overall with matching scores of 233. Ladd matched her second round with 78 on Sunday while Lohbauer fired 80 with three bogeys, a double-bogey, and a costly 3-over par eight on the par-5 11th. Ladd posted her third birdie of the event in shooting 6-over par 78.
 
Rounding out WCU's scoring five were sophomore Sadler Miller, who matched Ladd with the team's best final-round score of 78, and redshirt junior Kayleigh Baker in a tie for 36th at 237, shooting 79 on Sunday. Miller carded two of her four birdies over the final 18 holes to counter six bogeys and one double, while Baker posted 12 pars against five bogeys and a double-bogey over the last 18 holes.
 
Playing unattached as an individual, junior Kaitlyn Wingnean finished tied for 78th overall with a three-round score of 253, shooting 88 on Sunday.
 
Southern Conference foe East Tennessee State was four strokes better than runner-up Richmond on Sunday as the Buccaneers scored the five-stroke victory over the Spiders, 902-to-907. ETSU led each round in posting the team victory, placing a trio of individuals among the final top 11 finishers. USC Upstate rallied to third place, 23 strokes off the winning pace. WCU was fourth at 927 with Boston University rounding out the top five, a stroke back of the Catamounts at 928.
 
SoCon teams finished in first (ETSU) and fourth (WCU), with Samford finishing sixth, UNCG in a two-way tie for seventh with event-host Wofford, and The Citadel in 16th in the 16-team field.
 
Richmond's Hannah Lydic fired a final-round 1-over par 73 to claim individual medalist honors, edging SoCon golfers Brianna Castaldi of ETSU and Gabi Nicastro of Samford by a stroke, 221-to-222.
 
Western Carolina returns to action with its penultimate event of the 2023-24 regular season, traveling to Morganton, N.C., for the Mimosa Hills Intercollegiate, hosted by rival Appalachian State at the Mimosa Hills Country Club.
 
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4 – Western Carolina – 308 – 304 – 315 = 927 (+63)
T16 – Brie Mapanao – 75 – 76 – 80 =231 (+15)
T24 – Elizabeth Lohbauer – 78 – 75 – 80 = 233 (+17)
T24 – Victoria Ladd – 77 – 78 – 78 = 233 (+17)
T29 – Sadler Miller – 81 – 75 – 78 = 234 (+18)
T36 – Kayleigh Baker – 78 – 80 – 79 = 237 (+21)
T78 – Kaitlyn Wingnean – 84 – 81 – 88 = 253 (+37)