DeKALB — A third round team-best score of 307 pushed the women’s golf team up two spots to finish seventh place Monday in the Mary Fossum Invitational at Michigan State University. The Huskies finished one point behind South Dakota State University, and leaped Marshall University and Bethune-Cookman University in the final standings.

MSU went on to take the title, while Western Kentucky University and Princeton University rounded out the top three. 

The Huskies opened the tournament with a first-round score of 317, tying for sixth place with Eastern Michigan University. EMU went on to finish fifth. The Huskies responded in the second round with a score of 316.

Head Coach Kim Kester said her team needs to improve by starting better. Kester said the team dug itself a hole and wasn’t able to fully recover, according to an NIU Athletics press release.

“We need to work on hitting fairways, and we have a quick turnaround to get things worked out before heading to Missouri next week [for the Johnie Imes Invitational],“ Kester said.

Junior Lauren Ingle had the Huskies’ best performance of round one, posting five-over par 77. Junior Caroline Klemp followed close with a seven-over par 79, and first-year Jasmine Ly ended at eight-over par 80. Junior Sofia Gomez Enriquez and sophomore Ahra Ko both finished with nine-over par 81. Round two had similar results as Ingle and Klemp finished with two-over par 74 and seven-over par 79.

NIU made a significant improvement in the third round. The Huskies finished with a team tournament-best 309. The seven point difference from round two to three was also the best improvement in the tournament in that switch.

Ingle improved throughout the rounds, as she closed the tournament with one-over par 73. Ko also improved with a third-round score of three-over par 75. Ko posted 10-over par 82 in the second round. Klemp was the most consistent Huskie as she posted another seven-over par 79, this time in the third round.

NIU will be back on the course Monday when it travels to Columbia, Missouri for the Johnie Imes Invitational hosted by the University of Missouri. The invitational will be held at The Club at Old Hawthorne and will close Oct. 2.