Coming off of a vast improvement in its second round of the Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational, the Washington State women’s golf team took a step back in the third and final round of the tournament on Tuesday, shooting a 10-over (302) to finish in 14^th.

Playing at the Championship Course at the University of New Mexico, a 6,315-yard, par-73 track, WSU finished behind fellow Pac-12 schools Stanford – which won the tournament at 20-under (856) – and Oregon – which tied for sixth at five-over (881). Oregon State also competed at the Invitational and finished in 17th at 63-over (939).

Although the Cougs added five strokes to their second round score in the tournament’s final round, Head Coach Kelli Kamimura said she was pleased with her team’s effort at the first competition of the fall.

“I am proud of the way we played this week,” Kamimura said in a press release. “The Dick McGuire was a tough field and we held our own.”

The brightest spot in the Cougars’ lineup was Sophomore Alivia Brown, who looked as though she was in midseason form, sinking four birdies en route to a one-under (72) round to get her to +1 (220) for the tournament, which put her in a tie for 26th.

The Cougars found it increasingly difficult to make par on the par-four fifth hole on Tuesday. In the first two rounds, the Cougars made three bogeys on the fifth. Sophomore BreeLin Wanderscheid was the only Cougar who did not lose strokes on the hole in the final round. Despite not giving up ground on the 370-yard fifth, Wanderscheid rounded out the team with a nine-over (82) in the final round – her worst round of the tournament – to move her to +15 overall and into a tie for 69^th.

Seniors Monica Huang, Nani Yanagi Rachel Lewis and finished +9 (T50), +10 (T54) and +13 (T64) overall, respectively. Although Huang competed as an individual, she carded the best score in her group for the second and third rounds.

Northwestern University sophomore Sarah Cho rallied back from a sluggish second round to card a four-under (69) on Tuesday to win the individual championship with an overall score of -8.

The Cougars host the WSU Cougar Cup next Monday and Tuesday, which will be played at Palouse Ridge.

Reporting by Alex Payton