LAKEWOOD RANCH, Fla. – Firing its best score of the event in Tuesday's final round at the Mid-American Challenge, Morehead State women's golf eclipsed a nine-year-old mark to punctuate its first tournament of the new season.

Fashioning a final-round 285, Morehead State established a new benchmark for the lowest 18-hole team total in the team's history, crafting just the program's fourth sub-290 team round in the team's 13-year history. The new mark bests the program's 287 final round from the 2012 WCU Great Smokies Intercollegiate.

The Eagles' final round saw all five golfers post their best individual stroke totals of the Mid-American Challenge, including a pair of rounds below par (70; two-under) carded by Bridget Connolly and Gypsie Hutchinson.

Connolly and MacKenzie Neal paced Morehead State on the leaderboard, collecting top-25 placements, finishing tied for 21st and tied for 18th, respectively.

As a team, the Eagles claimed a top-10 finish, concluding sixth after posting scores of 305-305-285-892. The finish marks the seventh-consecutive top-10 for the team, a streak that dates back to the final event of the 2018-19 season.

Morehead State returns to the course in three weeks, competing at the Kiawah Island Classic in Kiawah Island, S.C. from Feb. 28-March 2. The three-day event will be contested on two of the Kiawah Island Golf Resorts' courses, teeing off from both the Cougar Pointe and Oak Point courses.

SCORING SUMMARY
Morehead State (305-302-285-892) – 6th
MacKenzie Neal (74-75-72-221) – t-18th
Bridget Connolly (78-74-70-222) – t-21st
Olivia Hensley (74-77-73-224) – t-28th
Gypsie Hutchinson (79-76-70-225) – t-31st
Hailey Rietz (81-77-77-235) – t-51st

NOTABLE

• Morehead State's final round 285 marked the lowest 18-hole round in program history, just the fourth time the Eagles have broken 290 while marking the 53rd sub-300 round.
• Bridget Connolly concluded the Mid-American Challenge ranked second in the field in Par-5 scoring, averaging 4.50 strokes on the Lakewood Ranch Golf & Country Club – Royal Lakes Course's four Par-5s, finishing six-under on Par-5s in the event.
• Making her collegiate debut, Olivia Hensley tied for eight in Par-5 scoring, averaging 4.67 strokes (-4) while Gypsie Hutchinson and MacKenzie Neal finished tied for 16th, averaging 4.83 strokes (-2).
• Neal and Connolly both ranked highly in the field in Par-3 scoring, ranking tied for 10th and tied for 19th, averaging 3.08 (+1) and 3.17 (+2) strokes, respectively.
• Neal also concluded the event carding 41 total pars, a total that ranked tied for second in the field. Hutchinson finished just behind, marking down 39 pars, to tie for eighth-most at the event.
• Carding eight birdies, Connolly tied for 10th in the field while Hensley's seven marked birdies tied for 17th.