East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State junior women’s golf Leila Raines fired a 7-under par 65 in the final round and finished as the runner-up individually, while the Spartans finished with the second-best team round in program history to finish in fifth place among 17 teams at the Moon Golf Invitational, which was played at Suntree Country Club in Melbourne, Fla.
The 17-team field included 13 teams ranked among the top-50 in the country by Golfstat.
Raines birdied seven holes as she posted a career-best round of 65 and tied for the fourth-best round in program history.
The junior finished tied atop the leaderboard with a 13-under par 203 and went to a playoff with Augusta’s Mirabel Ting before falling on the second hole.
The score of 203 for Raines ties the best 54-hole score in program history, set by Allyson Geer-Park at the Briar’s Creek Invitational in 2019.
The Spartans, who were in 10th place entering the final round, fired a 12-under 276 – tied for the second best round in the field – and finished with a three-day, 54-hole total of 14-under par 850.
No. 9 LSU led the field from start to finish, firing a 30-under par 834 to win by nine shots over Northwestern (21-under par 843. Florida finished in third place (18-under par 846), while Auburn was fourth (15-under par 849) and the Spartans placed fifth.
Sophomore Katie Lu shot a 3-under par 69 in the final round and finished in 31st place with a 1-under par 215.
Sophomore Brooke Biermann and junior Valentina Rossi tied for 42nd place with scores of 1-over par 217, respectively. Biermann carded a 2-under par 70 on Tuesday and Rossie posted an even-par 72.
Sophomore Shannon Kennedy finished at even-par 72 in the final round and tied for 62nd place with a score of 4-over par 220.
Playing as individuals, freshman Paula Balanzategui finished in a tie for 75th place at 10-over par 226 (76-76-72) and senior Nina Rissi tied for 92nd place with a 22-over par 22-over par 238.
After two tournaments on consecutive weekends to open the spring season, Michigan State will return to action at the ASU Invitational at Papago Golf Club in Phoenix, Ariz., with the tournament running from Friday, March 24 to Sunday, March 26.
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