MOBILE, Ala. – It was a great return to the golf course for the Northwest Mississippi Community College women's golf team as they tied their best finish of the year in a tournament field with at least 12 teams, placing fifth at the Snead State Women's Springs Invitational to kick off the week.
The Rangers showed consistency as a team, shooting a 360 on the first day and a 358 on the second day, finishing as the top team from Mississippi in the tournament and finishing eleven strokes better than the host team.
All four teams that finished ahead of Northwest are all ranked in the top five in the nation for NJCAA DII Women's Golf, including #1 Shelton State Community College, #3 Florida Gateway Community College, #4 Wallace State Hanceville Community College and #5 Jefferson State Community College.
Individually, it was a banner two days for Analeigh Little, who set the tone for the Rangers with a 5-over 77 in her opening round that included a pair of birdies and a 1-over front nine. On day two, Little was just as strong, shooting a 79 to finish the tournament at 12-over and in second place.
Little is currently ranked #12 in the nation at the Division II level and finished ahead of six golfers who are ranked in the top ten.
Bella McNeil had the strongest improvement from day one to day two of the tournament, posting an 89 on the opening day but she rallied and played to an 81 on the second day to move up seven places in the leader board and finish in a tie for eleventh place.
The freshman is currently ranked #28 in the nation going into the start of the spring season.
There were some up and down rounds for the back half of the Ranger golf team, but every golfer picked up some positives, starting with Addision Forbes, who after celebrating her signing with Millsaps College last week put together her best round of the year with a 93 on the opening day.
He second day was marred by a rough back nine where she failed to pick up a par or better, and she would drop to a tie for 45thplace, finishing with a 52-over.
Just one spot back of Forbes was Madison Baker, who saw similar results to Forbes but in reverse. After shooting a 30-over 102 on the opening day, Baker improved by seven strokes on her second round despite only managing a pair of pars in the round.
The final team golfer for the Rangers was Zae'Ja Davis who played consistent through both days, finishing the tournament at 62-over and in a tie for 50th in the field of 63.
Sarah Niblett rounded out the golfers there, playing as an independent and shooting a 65-over through the two-day event. She would finish in 55th place.
The Northwest women's team is currently ranked 10th in the nation according to the most recent polls as of February 25th and are the highest ranked team from the MACCC, ahead of Northeast Mississippi Community College who are ranked 20th.
Individually, Little is ranked eighth in the country and McNeil is 28th in the nation and only one other individual from Mississippi is in the top 30.
The Rangers will be back in action on March 9th when they head to Pensecola, Florida for the Jefferson State Women's College Invitational at Marcus Point Country Club.
