The women’s golf team wrapped up the IPFW Spring Classic with a third-place finish Monday.

The Huskies finished third out of 10 after moving up from fourth place from day one.

“Definitely good to finish in the top three,” said head coach Kim Kester. “Today was a lot colder than yesterday, still had a lot of wind, but the girls did extremely well in the cold. Yesterday we had a bunch [of] wind, so generally conditions were tough for us this week, and the girls handled it pretty well.”

On day one, NIU shot a 315 which was seven shots behind Indianapolis, which was in first with a 308. Junior Jenny Niemiec was on point for the Huskies with a 77. She ended the round tied for seventh place out of 61 golfers. Sophomore Taylor Ellett was right behind Niemiec with a six over par 78 to tie for 16th.

On day two it was the other Ellett who stole the show, as Taylor’s freshman sister Connie shot a team-low 75 for NIU.

Connie Ellett rebounded from her day one 81 with the 75 and ended the tournament tied for 10 out of 61 with a total of 156.

Kester was proud of how the freshman played on her second day.

“Definitely will boost her confidence,” Kester said. “This is the time you want it the most, riding in your last event before a conference tournament. So she played extremely well, kept the ball in play, and got around fantastic today, and I think she will definitely come out strong at [Bowling Green].”

On day two NIU shot a 312, cutting three strokes from its first day total of 315, and finishing with a tournament total of 627.

Niemiec finished the tournament tied with fellow Huskie sophomore Casey LaBarbera for 13th place after her second-round 80, and a total of 157. LaBarbera shot a first-round 80 but had a better second day with a 77.

Kester thought her team’s putting improved from the first day.

“From what I saw, right out of the bat the putting was better,” Kester said. “The greens were harder so we had a lot more chip shots drop and roll out, more than we expected. But overall the short game looked to be a little bit improved on day two versus day one.”

Closing out the NIU squad was senior Allie Parthie and Taylor Ellett, who were tied for 26th. Parthie had an average tournament, shooting 80 both days, while Ellett added four strokes to her 78 on day one for an 82 on day two.

University of Indianapolis won the tournament with a final round of 616, while Detroit came in second with a 624.

NIU’s next tournament will be the Dolores Black Falcon Invite on April 13 at Stone Ridge Golf Course in Bowling Green, Ohio.