Oklahoma City – Grace Bell stepped up with a bogey free -4 (68) and tournament top score on the second day of the NAIA Women's Golf National Championships to help the UBC Thunderbirds collectively shoot a -2 (268) and remain atop the leaderboard at four under overall. UBC opened up a 10-shot gap over Oklahoma City University who occupy second spot at +6 on their home course at Lincoln Park West Golf Club.
The T-Birds woke up bright and early Thursday morning with a three-stroke tournament lead and resumed their weather delayed round 1 before continuing directly to round two where they combined for the identical opening round score of -2 (268). The consistent play helped UBC increase their lead to 10 strokes over OKC University who followed up their first round +2 (290) with a four over (292) on their home course, while Savannah College sits 12 shots off the pace following a +6 (294) and +8 overall.
Bell, a first-year standout claimed four birdies on the day including three on the back nine to finish strong with her team and tournament best four under (68) climbing eight spots on the individual leaderboard to occupy sole possession of fourth place overall.
Sitting just one spot back of Bell in fifth spot is teammate Sonja Tang who delivered for a second straight round thanks to a -1 (71) that included two birdies, following up her opening round two-under (70) to sit at -3 overall.
Elizabeth Labbe bettered her opening round score by one stroke thanks to an E (72) that included three birdies and saw her move up five spots to occupy a four-way tie for 14
th place.
Emily Li carded a three-over (75) on day two to find herself at +2 overall and in a seven-way cluster for 19
th place and Shania Remandaban finished the day shooting a +6 (78) to sit at +7 overall.
The top 17 teams in the 30-team field advance to Friday's final round in what is a 54-hole tournament following weather delays to begin the week, while the top 40 individual players also move on to the third and final round tomorrow.