Sept. 19, 2009

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Led by a second-round 69 (-4) from senior Laura Nochta, the Indiana women's golf team is seventh after two rounds of the Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational at the UNM Championship Course in Albuquerque, N.M. Indiana concludes tournament play with 18 holes on Sunday.

The Hoosiers are 18 strokes off the pace with a 9-over 593 (297-296). Pepperdine is in the lead with a 9-under 575 (288-287), followed by New Mexico at -4 (294-286=580), TCU at -2 (291-291=582), UNLV at -1 (291-292=583) and Oregon at +6 (297-293=590) rounding out the top five.

"I thought we played well today," said head coach Clint Wallman. "We did a lot of good things. We had a rough stretch in the middle of the first round but we recovered well.

"This team has been playing well all year. Going into tomorrow we need to remember that every shot counts and we need to take advantage of every opportunity."

Nochta is tied for eighth after shooting scores of 75 and 69 (144). Round two opened with a birdie for Nochta on 10, and she shot a three on the par-4 13th and 15th holes. With a bogey on 12 she was -2 after nine holes. After pars on holes one through four, Nochta birdied five to drop to -3 and moved to 4-under with a three on the par-4 eighth hole.

"Laura really put it together," Wallman said. "She made some putts and took advantage of some good iron shots. This is a course where if you can get going you can make some birdies, and she did just that."

Nochta started the day in round one with a birdie on 10, but took bogeys on 14 and 16 to drop to 1-over. A bogey on two resulted in a 2-over score but she took a stroke back with a three on the par-4 fourth hole. Another bogey on six was followed by three-straight pars to end the round.

Freshman Pamela Burneski is tied for 25th with a score of 148 (71-77). In round two, Burneski was -1 after five holes with a birdie on 13, but back-to-back bogeys on 16 and 17 put her at +1 after eight holes. Coming home Burneski bogeyed one, four and six to drop to +4.

After opening the first round with a bogey, Burneski bounced back with birdies on 13 and 14 to move to -1. She added another birdie on 18, and back-to-back birdies on three and four left her at -4 with five holes to play. She was tripped up with a double bogey on six but came back with a birdie on seven and pars on eight and nine.

Senior Kellye Belcher sits tied for 33rd with a score of 150 (75-75) after two rounds. After pars on holes 10 and 11 to open the second round, Belcher double bogeyed 12 and went to +3 with a bogey on 14. She added birdies on 15 and 18, but had another bogey on 16 and was +2 making the turn. Her birdie on one, followed by pars on two and three, put her at +1. She jumped to three over with bogeys on five and eight, but ended the day with a birdie on nine to finish at +2.

In the first round, Belcher had three bogeys and a birdie on the back nine to sit at +2 heading into the final stretch. With pars on holes one through four, she posted a birdie on five to move to +1. Three pars and a bogey closed out the round.

Senior Anita Gahir is tied with nine other golfers for 46th with a score of 152 (76-76). Gahir opened round two with a bogey on 11 and was 3-over after seven holes. She dropped a stroke with a birdie on 18 and stayed at +2 until posting a five on the par-4 sixth hole. She had another bogey on nine but finished the round with a birdie on 10.

Gahir had a solid first eight holes in round one with just one bogey and a pair of birdies to sit at -1. Her troubles began when she made the turn at hole one, double bogeying two of the next four holes and adding a bogey on five. She pared the next four holes before finishing the round with a birdie on 10.

Junior Cecilia Orevik is tied for 61st after rounds of 78 and 76 (154). Orevik took control in the second round, opening with pars on the first seven holes. She recorded her first birdie of the day on hole three to move to -1, but recorded bogeys on five, seven and nine to climb back to +2. She hit par on 10, but closed out the day with a bogey on the par-5 11th hole.

Orevik was steady throughout the first round, posting pars on eight of the first nine holes. Back-to-back bogeys on three and four dropped her to +3 and she posted two more bogeys on seven and eight to fall to +5. She finished the round with pars on nine, 10 and 11.