Northwestern purple team wins Lady Trojan invitational

The Northwestern purple team posted a convincing win in the second annual Lady Trojan Invitational Golf Tournament at Waterford Golf Club on Friday.

The Trojans carded a team score of 350 to finish 22 strokes ahead of second-place York (372).

Behind York in third place was Fort Mill at 380. Nation Ford was fourth with a team total of 386. Clover was next at 405 and Northwestern’s gold team was sixth at 469.

Clover’s Alyssa Campbell burned up the course to claim medalist honors with a 4-under-par 68. She had scores of 34 on each side of the 4,937 yard layout on a very warm day. Jordan Guyton of Dreher was second with a round of 77.

Buggy Reinke led Northwestern’s effort with a six-over-par 78. Reinke had a 40 on the front nine and a 38 on the back nine.

Reinke’s 78 was good enough for third, and Fort Mill’s Lillie Smith was fourth overall with a 79. Zoe Bowers of Nation Ford and York’s Sara Smith tied for fifth at 81.

“I thought we played well today,” said Northwestern coach David Rector. “This team is coming right along. I feel like we are around 10 strokes better this year than last season.”

The tournament serves as a preview of the Region 4-5A tournament. Northwestern won the region last year and finished fifth in the Upper State tournament and 12th in the State finals.

“I am hoping with continued hard work by these girls we can improve our standing in both events after the region tournament,” Rector said. “We are still a young team that continues to improve. We have only two seniors on our 12-person roster.”

Rector was also pleased with the turnout at this year’s event.

“We had more teams and more players than last year,” Rector said. “I want this event to be bigger and better as we move forward over the years.”

Individual Scores

Northwestern (purple) - Buggy Reinke 40-38=78, Shae Payne 42-40=82, Faith Novak 46-52=98, Gabby Rowsam 44-48=92.

York - Sara Smith 40-41=81, Amiyah Starnes 46-42=88, Holley Mitchell 47-48=95, Lami Hughes 50-58=108.

Fort Mill - Lillie Smith 40-39=79, Amelia Majcina 45-47=92, Ellie Brown 55-49=104, Ashley Babinchak 50-55=105.

Nation Ford - Zoe Bowers 39-42=81, Amber Bellamy 49-49=98, Eileen Zeoli 50-50=100, Felicity Shackleford 56-51=107.

Clover - Alyssa Campbell 34-34=68, Ginger Pitts 49-55=104, Madison McCarter 54-59=113, Mallory Dover 55-65=120.

Northwestern (gold) - Avery Kessler 47-52=99, Reagan Hughes 52-52=104, Katherine Willis 66-64=110, Sophie Memp 66-70=136.

Rock Hill - Katie Warner 51-41=92, Perry Pressly 57-49=106, Madison Blue-Kirell 62-57=119.

Dreher - Jordan Guyton 39-38=77.

Indian Land - Cara Hasty 53-52=105.

This story was originally published September 22, 2017 at 6:31 PM with the headline "Northwestern purple team wins Lady Trojan invitational."