CHANDLER, Ariz.—Montana State’s Paige Crawford ran away with the Big Sky Conference individual women’s golf title Tuesday, and Northern Arizona won its record seventh team championship.
Crawford, a junior from Colorado Springs, Colo., matched the tournament record with her closing 5-under 67—also a career best—at Ocotillo Golf Resort. She finished at 8-under 208 to break the conference record, and won by seven strokes to tie the tournament mark for margin of victory.
“I am just so grateful for winning the Big Sky and to get records along with that is amazing,” Crawford said. “I can’t describe how I feel right now. Once I shot that 68 yesterday, I felt like things were clicking. Everything was coming into place. And mentally also, things were all going together. Today, I was just going into the round thinking, ‘Hit smart shots and see what happens and try to stay relaxed.'”
Northern Arizona’s Kaitlen Parsons and Portland State’s Britney Yada tied for second. Parsons shot 71, and Yada had a 72.
Northern Arizona had a 2-over 290 total—with the best four scores from the five team members counting—to finish at 18-over 882. Northern Arizona advanced to the NCAA West Regional on May 10-12 at Stanford.
Northern Arizona began the round tied for the lead with Portland State.
“It’s an unbelievable and amazing feeling,” Northern Arizona coach Brad Bedortha said. “Starting the day out I was just completely comfortable and calm and confident with my players. It was just easy going right from the get-go and I had a good feeling. They played great all day from top to bottom. They’ve done a great job all season and I’m just really happy for everybody.”
Portland State was second at 22 over, followed by Southern Utah and Northern Colorado at 37 over, Sacramento State at 40 over, Eastern Washington at 47 over, Weber State at 51 over, Montana at 55 over, Montana State at 58 over, North Dakota at 131 over and Idaho State at 143 over.
“We shot our low for the season and MSU’s low for the Big Sky Championship,” Montana State coach Brittany Basye said. “I am very happy with the team round today. To have Paige play so well is fun. I am proud of them all.”
