UNION GROVE, AL – The Northwest Mississippi Community College women's golf team put together two competitive rounds on the way to a 10^th place finish at the Snead State Invitational. The Rangers saw another top 15 finish from Analeigh Little and personal bests from Madison Baker and Zae'Ja Davis as the team finished nearly 100 strokes better than the next closest school from Mississippi.

The tournament featured one of the biggest fields the Rangers have seen this year with 88 total golfers and 17 teams competing from states as far away as Oklahoma and Iowa. It was also played on one of the longer courses the women have been on this year, measuring at just under 6,000 yards.

"Either the tee shot went downhill and then back up to a green or you just go up to a green," Head Coach Adam Payne said of some of the difficulties the team faced. "On two and nine, I told them all after our practice round just play them like a par five because both of them played back up hill and back up into the wind."

Payne added that he was very pleased with how the team handled it, battling through the tough holes and continuing to work to get better in their first test against many of the region teams they will face for a trip to nationals.

"I felt like we did well. We have to be a little bit better at getting out of the gate than did we starting off both day one and day two," he said. "The region is tough, but I feel like with us doing some things that we are doing right now we are going to be right there with [the top teams]."

Individually, Little once again showed her consistency during her pair of rounds, firing off a 13-over 85 on day one before improving to a 10-over 82 on the second day. Her first round got off toa bit of a rocky start with a triple-bogey on the third hole, but a birdy on the par-three eighth helped her to rally for a 43 on the front nine and she had four-pars on the way out to post a 42 on the back.

Day two saw the Rangers all starting on the back-nine and Little fired off six pars on the way to a four-over start and added four more on the back nine to complete her round, moving up three spots from a tie for 16^th to a 13^th place finish marking her third tournament in a row finishing in the top 15.

Bella McNeil got out of the gate quick for Northwest on the first day, finding herself three-over after the first seven holes, but a rough finish saw the freshman post a pair of quadruple bogeys on the back-nine which offset a birdie on the par-four 17^th.

She was still in a good spot in the field in a tie for 31^st going into the second day where she rallied to improve to an 86. That came after another rocky start on the first six holes, finding herself at nine over, but a birdie on the 16^th hole helped her to finishing at only five-over on the final 12 holes to finish 14-over and move up two places to a tie for 29^th and a top 30 finish.

The best improvement for Northwest from day one to day two came from Davis, who fought through an opening 53 on her front-nine on the first day to turn around and go nine-over on the back nine and finish with a 98 for her second straight round under 100 this season.

Round two could have been one that got away after the sophomore went 6-over on the first two holes, but Davis rallied to par three of the next six holes and had a career best back-nine with a 42 helping her to an overall score of 90 on the day. The round jumped her from a tie for 60^th on the first day to a tie for 48^th on the second day.

Only one other individual from Mississippi finished better than Little, McNeil and Davis during the tournament.

"I like the way we are going we just have to manage the expectations," Payne said. "But I love the effort and the attitude. If you have great effort and attitude, we are going in the right direction. This team chemistry is amazing. Come springtime we will be ready to make a good challenge come regionals and nationals."

Addison Forbes came out strong on the first day for Northwest, rolling her way to a tie for 52^nd where she shared that spot with Sarah Niblett, who had a personal best in her opening round.

Forbes found trouble on the par-five's during the first round, going nine-over on the four holes combined, but was able to make up some ground on the other holes to post a 96 on the first day. Day two was more of a struggle as the sophomore saw her score go up by 10 strokes on the way to a 106 as she fell to 68^th as an individual.

Niblett also had a tough time on the second day, shooting a 104 but saw an improvement from her opening nine on the second day and after shooting a 56 on the front came back with a 48 on her second nine, finishing the tournament in a tie for 65^th.

Also tying at 65^th was Madison Baker who just came in under 100 on the first day with a 99 before turning around and firing off a 101 on the second day. Baker did all of this while not in at her best physically either.

"I was really impressed with Maddy," Payne said. "She was sick and hurt and chose to play and really persevered. Mentally I thought she did a great job."

The Rangers have two more tournaments remaining on the year with a trip to Jasper, Alabama on October 27^th and 28^th for the Jefferson state Women's Fall Invitational and will close out their fall schedule with the MACCC Girls Match Play Championship on November 3^rd and 4^th at the Deerfield Golf Club in Canton.

More information on the women's golf team can be found at nwccrangers.com or by following along with Rangers social media accounts.