Powers, CU Women Win Second Straight Regional Title with First-Place Finish at CCC Champs/NAIA Unaffiliated Qualifier
TOURNAMENT RESULTS
MONROE, Ore.—The Concordia women’s golf team shot the lowest score for the third straight round at the CCC Championsips/NAIA Unaffiliated Qualifier at Diamond Woods Golf Course on Tuesday, letting the Cavaliers run away with the tournament championship by 38 strokes over Biola and The College of Idaho.
Concordia shot a third-round low of 327 Tuesday to give them a three-round total of 991 (338-326-327).
The tournament title gives the Cavs their second straight regional championship, after the team won the GSAC/Cal Pac/CCC Qualifier last season. Tuesday’s win also gave the Cavs their sixth straight CCC title, as the tournament results put the Cavaliers 192 strokes above The College of Idaho in the final conference standings.
In addition, the Cavaliers’ Sunny Powers won her second straight individual regional championship, as she shot a tournament-low 72 in the final round Tuesday to win medalist honors by six strokes over The College of Idaho’s Trish Gibbens. Powers’ even-par 72 Tuesday gave her a three-round total of 226 (75-79-72), well ahead of Gibbens’ total of 232 (77-80-75).
Powers also wrapped up the CCC Player of the Year award Tuesday, which goes to the individual with the lowest scoring average in conference tournaments throughout the season. Powers entered the tournament 25 strokes up on Gibbens in the CCC Player of the Year chase, and only added to her victory with her play at the tournament.
Powers becomes the third different Cavalier women’s golfer to win the CCC Player of the Year award following former first-team NAIA All-Americans Lindsay Aho and Sara Molyneux. Gibbens, meanwhile, won the CCC Player of the Year award following the 2010-11 season, but finished second to a Cavalier golfer for the second straight season after losing out to Molyneux by two strokes last season.
Powers’ performance at the tournament helped lead the Cavs to the team title, though all five Cavalier golfers finished in the top 15 at the tournament. Besides Powers, Jennifer Gibbons finished eighth overall at 254 (85-83-86), Patricia Little finished ninth at 256 (87-80-89), Madison Alamillo finished 13th at 264 (93-84-87) and Holly Winburn finished 15th at 266 (91-93-82).
The Cavs’ depth helped them hold off Biola (345-347-337) and The College of Idaho (351-341-337), which each finished tied for second at the tournament at 1029.
Biola had two golfers tie for fifth at 244 in Ava Lourenco (80-84-80) and Lauren Marlow (80-85-79), while Jackie Mata finished tied for 16th at 270 (92-90-88), Jasmine Rodriguez finished 21st at 276 (93-88-95) and Beth Williams tied for 24th at 280 (96-94-90).
For The College of Idaho, behind Gibbens, Baylee Borchers finished tied for fifth at 244 (82-81-81), Katherine Reed finished tied for 18th at 272 (96-87-89) and Sarah Boyd (96-93-98) and Reagan Sanford (100-95-92) each tied for 30th at 287.
Northwest Christian, meanwhile, finished ten strokes back of Biola and The College of Idaho for fourth at the tournament at 1039 (353-340-346). Sarah Crofcheck and Haley Patridge helped lead the Beacons as they finished third and fourth at the tournament at 235 (80-77-78) and 239 (78-78-83), respectively. Besides them, Emma Mitchum finished 14th overall at 265 (91-87-87), Sami Pitts finished 36th at 300 (104-98-98) and Taya Harbick finished 39th at 315 (106-98-111).
The tournament also finalized the All-CCC first team, which comprises of the top seven golfers in the conference based on scoring average in conference tournaments. Now with the conference season complete, Powers, Gibbens, Crofcheck, Partridge, Warner Pacific’s Scotti Jo Helmick, Borchers and Alamillo make up the seven-member all-conference team.
Finally, The College of Idaho’s John Bideganeta was named the CCC Women’s Coach of the Year after the tournament.
|
2012-13 Women's Golf All-CCC First Team |
|
Player |
School |
Average |
|
Sunny Powers |
Concordia |
77.47 |
|
Trish Gibbens |
College of Idaho |
79.53 |
|
Sarah Crofcheck |
Northwest Christian |
83.00 |
|
Haley Partridge |
Northwest Christian |
84.60 |
|
Scotti Jo Helmick |
Warner Pacific |
84.87 |
|
Baylee Borchers |
College of Idaho |
85.07 |
|
Madison Alamillo |
Concordia |
85.53 |