Huskers Improve at NCAA West Regional

St. George Utah - The Nebraska women's golf team rebounded from a rugged opening round to improve 19 strokes in the second round to finish with a 309 on Friday at the NCAA West Regional.

Despite the 19-stroke improvement from the first round, Nebraska remained in 20th place at the 21-team West Regional at the Entrada at Snow Canyon Country Club course. The Huskers did move within one stroke of 19th and two strokes of 18th place. NU enters Saturday's final round with a 36-hole total of 637.

Fellow Big 12 Conference school Oklahoma State stormed to the lead in NCAA West Regional field by firing Friday's finest round with a 290. The Cowgirls, who opened the 54-hole tournament with a 291 on Thursday, carry a six stroke lead over second-place Stanford. OSU sits at 581 through two rounds, while the Cardinal added a 300 on Friday to their tournament-best 287 in the opening round to enter Saturday's final 18 holes at 587.

Arizona State, UC Irvine, Pepperdine, the hosts from Brigham Young and Denver occupy the next five spots. New Mexico and Washington State head into the final round in a tie for eighth place at 610, 27 strokes ahead of the Huskers. The top eight teams in each of the three NCAA Regional fields advance to the 24-team NCAA Championships.

Nebraska junior Allison Stewart rebounded from a rough opening round on Thursday to lead the Huskers with a second-round 76 on the 6,234-yard, par-71 layout of the Entrada at Snow Canyon.

Fellow junior Elli Brown and true freshman Kate White also improved after struggling through Thursday's first 18 holes. Both Brown and White produced six-over-par scores of 77 on Friday. Another true freshman, JC Stevenson, added a 79 to round out NU's top four in the second round.

Senior Chrissie McArdle, who produced NU's only sub-80 round on Thursday, managed an 82 to complete the Husker lineup.

Brown, the top Husker on the individual leaderboard, climbed 12 spots into a tied for 63rd with a 16-over-par total of 158 through 36 holes. White, who is two shots back at 160, leaped 14 spots into a tie for 71st.

McArdle enters the final round in a tie for 75th at 161, while Stewart and Stevenson round out the NU contingent tied for 88th place in the 108-player field with identical 22-over-par scores of 164.

Oklahoma State's Pernilla Lindberg gained firm control of the individual title hunt with a three-under-par 68 on Friday, matching her opening-round performance. Lindberg enters the final round at 136, five strokes in front of Pepperdine's Misun Cho (141) and eight strokes ahead of OSU teammate Amanda Johnson and Arizona State's Juliana Murcia (144).

Nebraska will conclude its 2007 NCAA West Regional appearance on Saturday by opening the final round at 2:20 p.m. Central time. The Huskers will be paired with Columbia and Sacramento State.