April 5, 2005

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Seniors Liz Schweihs and Brooke Mangan finished in the top 10 individually and UAB's women's golf team placed eighth out of 13 teams as play finished Tuesday at the 2005 Lady Eagle Invitational golf tournament hosted by Southern Miss. The Blazers shot a team score of 309 in the third and final round and in their final regular-season tune-up before competing in the Conference USA Tournament April 18-20.

"I was happy to see Liz hold on to her top-10 spot and glad to see Brooke get back to some low scores with a solid round Tuesday," UAB head coach Kim Wilcox said. "Janey (Deimling) put in another good effort and Lois (Jones) stepped up in a big way this week. We have our work cut out for us in preparing for the conference tournament, but we're starting to see signs that we're hitting a good stride heading to the postseason."

Schweihs followed a career-low 71 in Monday's second round with a three-over-par 74 Tuesday to finish with rounds of 77-71-74. Her 222 was two shouts out off seventh and just seven strokes behind individual medalist Stacey Tate of Memphis, who shot two-over for the 54-hole tournament at the par-71, 5,837-yard event. Mangan followed rounds of 75 and 77 with an even-par 71 Tuesday to tie for 10th with Birmingham-Southern's Lauren Dodge at 223.

Junior Janey Deimling shot rounds of 74-78-78 to finish at 230 and tied for 22nd overall. Lois Jones followed a career day Monday with rounds of 86 and 82 with another 86 on Tuesday. Jones, who was competing in just her fifth collegiate event, established both 18- and 54-hole personal records for the weekend and placed 59th out of 69 competitors.

Birmingham-Southern followed record rounds of 291 and 293 on Monday to card a 295 in Tuesday's final round to finish at 879 for the tournament. The score gave the Panthers 24-stroke win over host Southern Miss, which finished second. Middle Tennessee, Jacksonville State and South Alabama rounded out the top five teams. Memphis and Nicholls State tied for sixth to finish 10 shots ahead of UAB in the team standings. The Blazers bested New Orleans, Jackson State, Troy, Samford and Lipscomb, which finished in places nine through 13.

Wicox's Blazers now set their sights on the Conference USA Tournament which will be played April 18-20 in Memphis, Tenn.