SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. – The second round improvements for Carson-Newman sophomore Jessica Hart (Roanoke, Va.) and junior Rebekah Pruett (Niceville, Fla.) rocketed the two Eagles up the South Atlantic Conference Championships scoreboard as both players shot a score of 74 on Monday at Sevierville Golf Club's River Course.
The Eagles are tied for third after the first 36 holes of the tournament and just eight shots off the lead.
The two players recovered at least 14 strokes off their scores from Sunday's first round after Hart carded an 88 and Pruett shot a 90. The duo's score of 74 are also tied for the second-lowest round during this week's tournament.
"That's awesome for Rebekah to come back with a 74 after a disappointing round yesterday is just fantastic. It boosts everybody when it filters down the line 'Bekah had a 74, Jessie had a 74' it just uplifts everybody and it's just great. It's great for us," coach Suzanne Strudwick said.
Hart had the lowest scoring average on par threes Monday morning as she averaged 2.75 strokes and scored one-under. She shot one-under on par fives also and averaged 4.75 strokes.
"I felt pretty confident the entire time, even after the two bogeys. I knew my putts were going to fall eventually and I kept going and hitting solid shots," Hart said about Monday.
Hart opened the second round with back-to-back bogeys but rattled off seven consecutive pars before bogeying the second hole. She finished off her round with two birdies to drop her score to two-over 74. The adjustment Hart made from her first round 88 was small but accomplished a lot. She is tied for 18th and is the highest-placed individual.
"Just the confidence again. I was striking the ball pretty well. I hit a few more greens today, made a few more putts, got a couple of birdies again," Hart said.
For Pruett, the junior's key was starting off the round right. She birdied the second hole, but followed that with back-to-back bogeys. The Floridian then proceeded to par 11 of the next 14 holes to coast to the finish with a two-over 74. She is tied for 28th.
"I was trying to relax and take each shot one at a time. I got off to a really good shot birdieing number two and that kind of caught me pumped up for the rest of the round. I was just really focused and really narrowed in on my shots and it helped," Pruett said.
Pruett also noted the difference from the SAC Championships in comparison to regular season tournaments, which normally consist of just two rounds.
"That's the perk about conference is that you get three days to play and yesterday was just a day to get comfortable and unfortunately, it wasn't a good scoring day. I got all the nerves and jitters out and got relaxed and fun with it."
Freshman Elizabeth England (Oakland, Tenn.) is one stroke behind Baiunco at 12-over and is in eighth-place. The freshman is the only player in the tournament to shoot even-par on par threes as every other player is at least one-over on the short holes.
Juniors Kelli Pemberton (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Meridith Hawkins(Powell, Tenn.) are tied for 28th after the first two rounds. Pemberton tallied her second straight 82 on Monday, which are her two lowest scores in five SAC Championship rounds. Hawkins shot an 83 on the second day. She is tied for fifth on par three scoring with an average stroke of 3.25 and is two-over on par threes.
Wingate leads the tournament by five strokes over Newberry and Queens's Grace Glaze leads the individual tournament by three strokes over Newberry's Karly Mims.
The final round of the SAC Championships will take place Tuesday from the River Course. Live results can be found on birdiefire.com. and a full recap and videos will be found on cneagles.com.
T4 Danielle Baiunco 76 79 (+11)
8 Elizabeth England 78 78 (+12)
T18 Jessica Hart 88 74 (+18)
T28 Meridith Hawkins 81 83 (+20)
T28 Rebekah Pruett 90 74 (+20)
T28 Kelli Pemberton 82 82 (+20)
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