Spartanburg, S.C. – Graduate transfer EC Niebauer fired an opening day score of 8-over par 152 to sit in a four-way tie for 12th place overall, guiding Western Carolina women's golf to sixth entering Tuesday's final round at the Terrier Intercollegiate, hosted by Wofford at the par-72, 6,037-yard Country Club of Spartanburg.
 
Paired with golfers from Appalachian State and Elon in threesomes, the Catamount scoring five opens the final round with a 9 a.m. shotgun start between the fourth and seventh holes. Live scoring of the final day of competition is available through the Scoreboard Live app, powered by Clippd and linked online at CatamountSports.com.
 
Returning to the event after a ninth-place showing a season ago while at Queens, Niebauer carded rounds of 5-over par 77 and 3-over par 75 in Monday's 36 holes of continuous play. A product of High Point, N.C., Niebauer carded three birdies over the first two rounds to counter nine bogeys and a first-round double-bogey just four holes into the event.
 
Teammates in senior Sadler Miller and Icelandic sophomore Elsa Maren Steinarsdôttir are tied for 22nd overall, three strokes in arrears with matching scores of 155.
 
Miller battled through her opening round, countering eight bogeys with four birdies to remain in contention after 18 holes with a 4-over par  74, before carding her fifth birdie of the day in round two with a score of 7-over par 79. Steinarsdôttir mirrored Miller's scoring in reverse, bouncing back from a first-round 7-over par 79 to shoot 4-over par 76 in round two. Steinarsdôttir posted three birdies on the opening day.
 
Rounding out the Catamount scoring five are sophomore Annalee Caveney in a tie for 31st with a two-round score of 158, while sophomore transfer Emily Rosenschein is in 59th overall with a score of 171 (87-84). Caveney carded a pair of birdies and closed the first round with five consecutive pars to highlight her opening day, with Rosenschein collecting a birdie over the second 18 holes.
 
Southern Conference foes East Tennessee State and event-host Wofford hold the top two spots entering Tuesday's final round. The Buccaneers (593) hold a six-stroke lead over the Terriers (599) with 18 holes to play. Mountain-rival UNC Asheville and Elon are tied for third with matching scores of 609, with Appalachian State (611) holding a nine-stroke edge over the Catamounts (620) in fifth and sixth, respectively.
 
Two ETSU Bucs are perched atop the leaderboard through 36 holes with Sophia Gambini leading teammate Arisa Piyamanit by a stroke, 145-to-146. The top five, which includes a two-way tie for fifth place, could be covered by a blanket, all with four strokes of one another entering the final round.
 
Western Carolina concludes play in its penultimate event of the fall semester on Tuesday morning in the South Carolina Upstate.
 
6 – Western Carolina – 308 – 312 = 620 (+44)
T12 – EC Niebauer – 77-75 = 152 (+8)
T22 – Elsa Maren Steinarsdottir – 79-76 = 155 (+11)
T22 – Sadler Miller – 76-79 = 155 (+11)
T31 – Annalee Caveney – 76-82 = 158 (+14)
59 – Emily Rosenschein – 87-84 = 171 (+27)