Hilton Head Island, S.C. – Three Catamounts sit tied for 11th place with matching opening-round scores of 4-over par 76 after 18 holes to guide Western Carolina to fourth overall at the 2024 Southern Conference Women's Golf Championship at Moss Creek Golf Club's par-72, 6,036-yard South course. Fifth-year senior Victoria Ladd, redshirt junior Kayleigh Baker, and sophomore Brie Mapanao lead WCU's scoring five entering Monday's second round.
 
Round two of the championship begins with threesomes at 8:30 a.m. on Monday. Live scoring through GolfStat is available through a link at CatamountSports.com.
 
WCU's top three scorers each reached 76 on slightly differing paths on Sunday. Mapanao countered five bogeys with a birdie and 12 pars for the most direct route on the opening 18 holes. Baker had a pair of double bogeys, two bogeys, and three birdies in shooting 76, while Ladd countered a double-bogey and six bogeys with a team-best four birdies.
 
Mapanao shot par on seven of the nine holes of the back nine, finishing the day with four-consecutive in regulation to shoot 76. Ladd and Baker were both poised to card rounds of 2-over par heading into the 18th hole of the day before carding a double-bogey to be relegated to 76. Baker rallied from a 4-over par score through 15 holes with consecutive birdies on the par-4 16th and par-3 17th before the +2 on 18.
 
Rounding out WCU's scoring five are junior Elizabeth Lohbauer in a tie for 17th a stroke back at 5-over par 77, and sophomore Sadler Miller tied for 22nd after the first round of her SoCon Championship debut at 6-over par 78. Lohbauer charted a pair of birdies on Sunday with Miller shooting even-par over the back nine including 1-under par over the final eight holes of the day.
 
All told, WCU's scoring five is all within two strokes of each other between 4-over par 76 and 6-over par 78.
 
ETSU leads the 2024 Southern Conference Women's Golf Championship by two strokes over two-time defending champion Furman, while the Paladins' Anna Morgan holds the individual lead after the first day of competition after shooting 2-under par 70 – the only golfer in the field under par through 18 holes.
 
The Bucs, who are seeking their second championship in four years after claiming the 2021 title, have four players in the Top 10. Furman has two currently on the podium to sit two strokes back of ETSU. Samford is in third place, eight strokes off the pace at 302 with WCU (305) and UNCG (309) rounding out the top five. Wofford is five strokes behind WCU in sixth-place after shooting 310 with Chattanooga (313), Mercer (313), and The Citadel (347) rounding out the field.

Morgan, the defending individual champion, carded a 2-under 70 in round one to hold a two-stroke lead over four golfers who are tied for second place, including teammate Audrey Ryu, Samford's Bailey Dunstan, Wofford's Lilli Horn and ETSU's Grace Chin. ETSU's Sophie Bert is alone in sixth place after firing an opening round 73 on day one of the championship, with four additional golfers in a logjam for seventh place, just four strokes off the pace.
 
Tournament play continues on Monday morning before the third and final round is  scheduled for Tuesday. Complete results will be made available after play concludes each round through SoConSports.com and CatamountSports.com.
 
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).
 
4 – Western Carolina – 305 (+17)
T11 – Brie Mapanao – 76 (+4)
T11 – Victoria Ladd – 76 (+4)
T11 – Kayleigh Baker – 76 (+4)
T17 – Elizabeth Lohbauer – 77 (+5)
T22 – Sadler Miller – 78 (+6)