Waco, Texas - Elli Brown closed with a solid round of 74 to take third place individually while leading the Nebraska women's golf team to a fourth-place finish at the 2007 Big 12 Championships on the Ridgewood Country Club course on Wednesday afternoon.
Brown, a junior from Meridian, Idaho, opened the day in a tie for second, seven strokes behind tournament leader Amanda Costner from Kansas. Costner closed the tournament with a final-round 77 to finish at 221, while Brown pulled within four strokes at 225. Defending Big 12 champion Ashley Knoll from Texas A&M fired a one-under-par 71 in the final round to finish second at 224.
Brown's finish was the second-best ever by a Husker at the Big 12 Championships, trailing only Sarah Sasse's 2003 Big 12 title. The only other Husker to win a conference title was Rachelle Tacha in 1996 - the final year of Big Eight play.
"Elli played well today and it was a great finish for her," Nebraska Coach Robin Krapfl said. "She was really the only person who could get anything going for us today, so her score was even that much more important to our team finish."
Brown was the only Husker to break 80 on the afternoon, as NU finished the final round 29 over par at 317 to close the 54-hole tournament at 936. Despite a rough final day, the Huskers held off fifth-place Oklahoma (308) by one stroke and sixth-place Colorado (307) by three strokes in the final team standings.
Texas A&M won the team title with a three-round score of 911 that included the best round of the tournament with a 296 on the par-72, 6,142-yard layout at Ridgewood on Wednesday. Oklahoma State took second at 916, while the hosts from Baylor finished seven shots back of the Aggies at 918.
"A top-four finish at the Big 12 Championships is a good performance, considering the strength of the teams in our conference," Krapfl said. "We struggled all day, but we found the fortitude to finish up the last four or five holes strong and get that top-four finish. Our team should be proud, but at the same time you always want to finish a tournament with a great round and that didn't happen today."
In addition to Brown's third-place finish, Allison Stewart contributed a top-20 finish for the Huskers. The junior from Vermillion, S.D., closed the best Big 12 Tournament of her career in a tie for 20th at 234 (75-79-80).
True freshman Kate White tied for 28th in her first Big 12 Tournament at 237 (78-77-82), while senior Chrissie McArdle added a tie for 42nd (82-77-82) in the final Big 12 effort of her career. True freshman JC Stevenson from Grand Island, Neb., rounded out NU's Big 12 contingent in 56th at 250 (87-82-71).
Nebraska will now await word on an NCAA Regional invitation. Bids will be announced on April 30 and regional competition will be held May 10-12 at pre-determined sites.