Illinois finished the Therese Hession Buckeye Invitational in eighth place, shooting a team total of 42-over 906. A resilient third round of 11-over 299 helped propel the Illini to eighth place after starting the round in 10th. Sophomore Anna Ritter’s strong showing helped Illinois place in the top 10 for the fifth consecutive time this season.
In spite of the team’s bumpy performance, the Ohio native had her best performance of the season. She shot 8-over, tying her season-best 54-hole score. She also finished T-19th, which is a career-best finish. Her previous best was T-34th at the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic in March of this year.
Ritter has turned things around after a sluggish start to her season where she placed in the bottom half individually in almost every tournament. However, she has finished in the top 35 in the past two matches. It comes at a perfect time as the Big Ten Championship is right around the corner.
The Illini got off to a rocky start in the first round, shooting a 14-over 302. Junior Lexanne Halama got off to a slow start, going 5-over on the back nine before turning things around and shooting 1-under on the front nine. Freshman Erica Lee started hot, shooting 1-over on the back nine before cooling down and finishing the front nine 6-over.
The second round wasn’t much better for the Illini as they shot a 17-over 305. Ritter continued her hot streak, shooting 3-over. However, it wasn’t enough as the team slipped down to 10th place after day one.
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Despite the rough start, Illinois finished strong in round three, shooting an 11-over 299 to lift themselves back up to 8th place. Ritter concluded her tournament with a 3-over third round. Senior Isabel Sy led the team with a 1-over day.
Sy fought back to place T-14th after an efficient third round. She shot 7-over for the tournament and 1-over in the third round. Sy is coming off a season-worst performance, and while she got off to a shaky start, she ended strong, flashing the skill that got her to two first-place finishes this season.
After not playing in the first five tournaments, freshman Yurang Li once again finished in the top 30, marking the fourth time she has done so in only five tournaments. Despite a 6-over first round and a 4-over second round, Li closed her tournament with a 2-over third round, finishing the day strong.
Illinois finished their regular season with another top-10 finish led by Sy, Ritter and Li. They head to Maryland next weekend for the Big Ten championship. Head Coach Renee Slone and her team are the defending champions and will fight to maintain their title against the rest of the Big Ten.
@Ben_some16
