Story courtesy of meangreen.com

 

FORT MYERS, Florida – North Texas finished the Conference USA Championships on a high note, posting the best single round of the event, and their score of 287 tied for the third-best in program history. Sophomore Lauren Cox, a former Little Cypress-Mauriceville standout, and junior Sabina Pena each shot three-under 69’s in the third and final round at the Verandah Club’s Old Orange course, and both tied for fifth to make the All-Tournament team, finishing the event at +4.

“I am thrilled we broke par today and moved up the leaderboard,” head coach Michael Akerssaid. “Lauren and Sabina played great golf. They are our hardest workers, so it is great to see them succeed. This program is on the rise and Im proud of how far we have come but we won’t be satisfied until we win. We return our top three players and are adding some quality players, so next year is on track to be very positive.”

Cox followed up her excellent second round with a stellar performance in round three for the Mean Green Wednesday. Her three-under-par 69 was her second-lowest single round of her career after posting a 67 in the spring at the Johnie Imes.

The sophomore opened her Wednesday with a pair of birdies on No. 10 and 11, and birdied five holes on the day. She parred 11 holes and only bogeyed the par five fifth hole and par four 18th. Both Cox and Pena climbed 11 spots to finish in the top five. It was Cox’s second career top-five finish (also finished fifth at the Web.Com Invitational last season) and third top-10 finish (second of 2017-18).

“We all played great and improved over the past three days,” Cox said following the event. “Everything about this week was so much fun and I can’t wait for the fall. I think we’ve figured out the course at Verandah and we are going to own it next year. We have so much fun together as a team and we are going to miss Nyca [Khaw] so much next year!”

Pena carded the best round of her North Texas career, equaling Cox’s feat and this marks her second career top-five finish, but first with North Texas. She also finished fifth at the Big 12 Championships in 2015-16 while playing at TCU.

The Sharyland, Texas, native birdied on six occasions, on No. 1, back-to-back on No. 3 and No. 4, on No. 8, No. 10 and No. 17. She also parred nine times on another stellar day for the junior.

With Cox and Pena’s All-Tournament team selections, Akers now has had three different golfers land that honor in his two seasons at the helm of the program. Sophomore Elena Kimfinished fourth last season.

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Team Leaderboard
1. UT San Antonio (+10)
2. UTEP (+23)
3. Old Dominion (+27)
4. North Texas (+32)
5. Middle Tennessee (+35)
6. Southern Miss (+40)
7. Western Kentucky (+44)
8. Florida International (+46)
9. Charlotte (+47)
10. Marshall (+50)
11. Florida Atlantic (+75)
12. UAB (+76)

Player Leaderboard
T5. Lauren Cox (+4)*
T5. Sabina Pena (+4)*
T27. Sol Lee (+13)
T36. Elena Kim (+16)
T38. Nyca Khaw (+17)