GREENWOOD, S.C. --- Tusculum University freshman Nilubol Panno carded a one-under par tournament total 143 to finish tied for third place at the Lady Bearcat Invitational. The two-day, 36-hole tournament is being held at The Links at Stoney Point and hosted by Lander University.
The Pioneers posted a season-low 295 in the final round to finish with a 36-hole total 598 to finish sixth in the strong tournament field featuring six teams ranked in the latest WGCA Division II Top-25. TU's final round 295 is tied for the third-best team score in program history. Tusculum's 36-hole total of 598 is the third-best team tally in the university record book.
Panno claims her second straight All-Tournament honor following up her runner-up finish at last week's Agnes McAmis Memorial. Panno carded a final round 72 and finished just two shots behind medalist Lena Schilowsky of Limestone (68-73=141)
Panno's 143 is the second lowest 36-hole score in school history and just two strokes off the TU record 141 shot by Jillian Corum at the 2012 McAmis Memorial.
Limestone, the fourth-ranked team in the country, backed up that high ranking by winning the Lady Bearcat Invitational title with an eight-under par score of 568, winning by 16 shots over runner-up Flagler (No. 7 in NCAA II). Anderson, the No. 8 team in DII finished third with 587 while Lee University (No. 22 in NCAA II) claimed fourth place honors with 588.
Wingate (No. 12 in NCAA II) finished fifth with 597, one-shot ahead of Tusculum's 598. Lenoir-Rhyne was seventh with 601, followed by Lincoln Memorial (610) and 14th-ranked Saint Leo (613). Columbus State was 10th with 619, followed by Montevallo (622), UNC Pembroke (623), Belmont Abbey (629), Converse (634), host Lander (635), Queens (635), Emmanuel (639), Southern Wesleyan (654), North Greenville (657), Young Harris (657), Newberry (667), Coker (669), Catawba (675), Erskine (677) and Columbia College (682).
Panno's 72 included three birdies, three bogeys and 12 pars as she posted her fifth consecutive round in the 70's.
TU junior Olivia Cunningham tied for 19th place with back-to-back rounds of 74 for her 148 which is a career-low for 36 holes. She was four-over par through 11 holes on Tuesday but rallied with birdies at the 12th and 18th holes to crack the tournament top-20 for a third time this spring and 11th time in her collegiate career.
Graduate student Jennifer Keim posted a one-over par 73 on Tuesday to shoot 150 and climbed five spots up the leaderboard to tie for 30th place. Senior Hannah Brown made a huge jump up the scoreboard with her 81-76=157 to improve 15 spots and tie for 56th. Junior Jacque Butler rounded out the TU scoring with 87-83=170 (109th).
The Pioneers return to action next Monday as they compete in the one-day UVA Wise Invitational at The Cattails at Meadowview in Kingsport, Tennessee.
