POINT CLEAR Ala. | Lillian Buehle fired a third-round, three-under par 69 to finish tied for second after carding a new postseason record 211 Wednesday afternoon to help the South Alabama advance to Match Play at the Sun Belt Conference Championship at the Lakewood Golf Club on the Dogwood Course.

South Alabama advances to the semifinal round on Thursday where it will face Texas State, where the two clubs will begin teeing off at 7:30 am on hole No. 10, while ULM and Old Dominion will tee off on hole No. 1. The championship round will immediately follow in the afternoon where the winner will earn an automatic berth to the NCAA Championship.

With her Top 8 finish, Buehle becomes just the sixth player in program history to earn all-tournament honors at the championship event. 

Led by Buehle, South Alabama was outstanding on the course on Wednesday as all five players finished par or better in the final round, as the Jags fired a four-under, 284 in the round to move up four spots on the final day. 

Katelyn Foster was also outstanding over the final 18 holes as she was one-under for the round, carding a career-low 71. Mercedes Aldana (77-71-72—220) and Daniela Palmeros (74-75-72—221) also recorded Top 15 finishes at the event, placing in a tie for 10th and 13th, respectively.

South Alabama entered the final round sitting in sixth-place after the first two rounds, but set the tone right out of the gate as it was four-under over the first nine holes of Wednesday's final round to move up to second at the turn. The key stretch of the first nine holes came on holes, 16, 17 and 18 as South was five-under over the three-hole stretch. Over the final nine holes, the Jags maintained their momentum finishing at even-par.

The three-round 880 by the Jaguars at the tournament marked the second-lowest, three-round total at a Sun Belt Conference Championship, and was just three shots shy of matching the program record of 877 accomplished at the 2019 tournament.

Head Coach Marcelo Huarte 
- On the team's performance:
"I'm extremely proud of this team and how they battled the last three days. Today's round was incredible to watch. They knew what they had to do and stepped up; from top to bottom, today was an incredible team performance. Their ability to bounce back from adversity and stay poised during the tough times is what kept us in it, and that's what I'm most proud of. We're going to enjoy the moment and then reset for what we hope to be a long day tomorrow."

TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
Event (host): Sun Belt Conference Championship (Sun Belt Conference)
Course: Lakewood Golf Club (Point Clear, Ala.)

TEAM SCORES
(1) ULM 288-292-291—871 (+7); (2) South Alabama 303-293-284—880 (+16); (3) Texas State 297-290-294—881 (+17); (t-4) Old Dominion 303-291-288—882 (+18)*; (t-4) Coastal Carolina 301-293-288—882 (+18); (6) Appalachian State 285-302-299—886 (+22); (7) Georgia State 304-303-285—892 (+28); (8) Southern Miss 308-292-294—894 (+30); (9) Arkansas State 306-300-297—903 (+39); (10) James Madison 305-304-295—904 (+40); (11) Georgia Southern 307-300-308—915 (+51); (12) Troy 305-309-315—929 (+65); (13) Marshall 324-320-307—941 (+77)

* - Old Dominion defeated Coastal Carolina in a playoff to advance to match play

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
(1) Barbara Car (Old Dominion) 73-70-66—209 (-7); (t-2) Daniela Campillo Martinez (ULM) 68-71-72—211 (-5); (t-2) Lilian Buehle (South Alabama) 70-72-69—211 (-5); (4) Louise Cuyvers (Southern Miss) 74-69-70—213 (-3); (t-5) Grace Quintanilla (Texas State) 72-70-72—214 (-2); (t-5) Zoe Duval (Appalachian State) 69-76-69—214 (-2); (t-7) Margaux Brejo (Georgia Southern) 72-69-75—216 (E); (t-7) Ella Murray (Coastal Carolina) 76-72-68—216 (E); (9) Mariana Arronte (Old Dominion) 74-72-73—219 (+3); (t-10) Mercedes Aldana (South Alabama) 77-71-72—220 (+4); (t-10) Carla Bourdeaux (Coastal Carolina) 77-70-73—220 (+4); (t-10) Grace Kalina (Georgia State) 77-72-71—220 (+4)

SOUTH ALABAMA SCORES
(t-2) Lilian Buehle 70-72-69—211 (-5); (t-10) Mercedes Aldana 77-71-72—220 (+4); (t-13) Daniela Palmeros 74-75-72—221 (+5); (t-42) Anna Behnsen 82-75-72—229 (+13); (t-44) Katelyn Foster 83-76-71—230 (+14)

NOTES
•    As a team, South Alabama shaved 10 strokes off of its first-round score on Tuesday to finish with a 293, and then took off nine more strokes in the final round
•    The third-round 69 by Buehle tied with two other Jags (Carianne Wright – 2017 and Kristen Golightly – 2013) for lowest individual round by a Jag at the Sun Belt Conference Championship
•    The final-round 284 by South Alabama also set a new program-best for a third-round score and a new program record for a round at the conference championship event, as well as any postseason round
•    Aldana's one-under, 71 in the second round marked moved the sophomore up 17 spots, marking the fourth biggest jump of any individual player in the round, as she led the club with seven birdies in the round
•    Buehle fired a two-under 70 in the opening round after recording four birdies and carding a two-under on the front nine
•    With her second-place finish, Buehle became the first Jag since Julie Hovland (2021) to be named to the all-tournament team at the event, and along with Hovland joins four other South Alabama players to earn the honor: Golightly (2013), Ashleigh Ryals (2014), Carolina Berge (2019) and Siti Shaari (2019)
•    The three-round 211 carded by Buehle also set a new tournament low by a Jag, eclipsing the previous mark of 214 held by Shaari and set at the 2019 tournament in Daytona Beach, Fla.
•    South Alabama tied with ULM for par 3 scoring (3.10), was fourth on both par 4s (4.23) and par 5s (4.85), and finished with the fewest bogeys among the 13-team field
•    Led by Aldana's 13 birdies, the Jaguars finished with 40 birdies, which were second-most and just four birdies behind ULM
•    Individually, Palmeros finished tied with Old Dominion's Barbara Car – who earned medalists honors – for the lowest par 3 average (2.92)
•    Buehle was second in par 4 scoring (3.90) and finished minus-three on the holes, while Aldana was tied with three other players in the field in par 5 scoring (4.58) as she was five-under on the hole
•    The 13 birdies by Aldana also tied with Southern Miss' Louise Culvers for the most among the field

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