The Illinois women’s golf team had one of its best finishes of the spring after scoring a 927 to close out the regular season with a sixth-place finish at the Lady Buckeye Spring Invite at the Scarlet Golf Course in Columbus, Ohio.

The Illini had six golfers play three rounds over the course of Saturday and Sunday with the four best scores counting in each round. They competed against 12 teams, six of which, are in the Big Ten.

“I’m pretty happy with how we played,” senior Ember Schuldt said. “We had a lot of good shots and came up on a lot of good opportunities, just a solid overall weekend.”

Illinois played the first two rounds of the tournament Saturday, and finished the day with a score of 612, 46-over-par. In the first round, the golfers had 32 bogeys and 12 holes scored a double bogey or higher. There were also 10 birdies in the first round.

In the second round, the Illini decreased the number of holes where the team scored a double bogey or higher to two. But their bogey total increased to 42 and there were only six birdies. Junior Erin Ahern was able to get an eagle on the seventh hole.

The Illini’s best round came Sunday in the final round of the competition, where assistant coach Jenny Coluccio mentioned the last nine holes consisted of a lot of energy. In the final round, Illinois scored a team total of 305, with 12 birdies, 33 bogeys and six holes were scored a double bogey or higher.

Junior Sam Postillion and Schuldt led the Illini with scores of 73 and 74, respectively. Head coach Renee Slone added that it was those two scores which made the difference, in comparison to the first day of competition.

“Sam played a very good round of golf today,” Slone said Sunday. “She just made a whole slew of pars and was just steady throughout the day, so it’s good to see her have a good final round and prepare herself well for next week.”

Schuldt placed fifth amongst the individual golfers with a total score of 226, 10-over-par. Her best round came Saturday in the first round, where she scored a 73. In the second round, she increased her score to 79, but was able to bring it back down to 74 for the last round. Schuldt even got an eagle on the 12th hole in the third round.

“Ember played a very solid and very smart golf tournament,” Slone said. “Ohio State is one of the more challenging golf courses in all of college golf. To come in here and play a smart, well-thought-out golf tournament, and have a top-five finish is certainly a momentum booster and confidence booster heading into Big Tens.”

Ashley can be reached at [email protected] and @wijangco12.