Leading by one stroke after the front nine, Memorial High School senior Maria Farnsley concentrated on what she could control — her own performance.
“I had to focus on making good shots,” said Farnsley, the medalist with a 10-over 80 on Saturday in the Evansville girls’ golf sectional at Fendrich. “I was not going to worry about anyone else. I saw that (North’s) Olivia Price was one stroke behind me.”
North Posey’s Maggie Camp and Mount Vernon’s Kendyl Bourne tied for second with 82s. Memorial’s Kelly Morgan and Taylor Hinton were next with 83s, along with North Posey’s Allison Koester and Price.
Memorial won the team title with a 340. North placed second with a 346. North Posey (368) is the third team advancing to the Evansville Regional at Eagle Valley next Saturday. Individuals advancing who were not on qualifying teams were Bourne, junior Taylor Utley of Reitz and junior Emily McAtee of Mater Dei, who both shot 88.
It’s been a back-and-forth battle between the no. 16 Tigers and North for several weeks. Memorial beat the second-place Huskies by 14 strokes to win the City title on Aug. 27. However, North finished second behind Castle with a 338 on Sept. 10 in the Southern Indiana Athletic Conference meet at McDonald. Memorial was third with a 343.
Trailing North by four strokes after the front nine on Saturday, Memorial stormed back.
“We came back on the back nine — that was the difference maker,” said Tigers coach Jenny Koch. “That’s the strength of the team.”
North coach Jon Siau said Memorial’s advantage in experience paid huge dividends. the Tigers have three seniors while North has none.
“They have more experience and that paid off on the back nine,” Siau said. “Those girls have been to the state tournament and are older. We’re happy to move on. next week will be the real test.”
Farnsley, who won her first individual title of the season on Saturday, finished one stroke behind teammate and medalist Kaylee Huelsing at the City meet.
Farnsley only hit one green in regulation on the back nine in the sectional.
“I stayed with my irons and made chips and one-putts to save par,” she said. “I finally got a win.”
nJasper Sectional: Castle’s Kayla Katterhenry defeated teammate Nicole Harvey on a one-hole playoff to win the individual title as the no. 14 Knights shot a 334 to defeat no. 15 Jasper (348) for the team championship.
Katterhenry and Harvey both shot an 81 in regulation, then Katterhenry parred the playoff hole while Harvey had a bogey.
“Kayla didn’t have one of her better days, but she grinded it out,” said Castle coach Josh Kain. “It was pretty cool that both of those had to battle it out for one hole. They didn’t really want to do it, but knew they had to.”
Mekenzie Hilsmeyer of Jasper was third with an 84. Springs Valley (437) will join Castle and Jasper at the regional.
nNorth Knox Sectional: At North Knox, Darrah Holder of North Daviess was the medalist with a 78. Gibson Southern’s Morgan Kelly and Vincennes Rivet’s Carly Waggoner were next with 80s. Rivet took the team title with a 339. North Knox (366) and Gibson Southern (368) also advanced to the regional.