No. 25 Women’s golf wrapped up the Jim West Challenge with a second-place finish, extending their streak of top-three finishes to four.

Day one saw Houston sit atop the leaderboards after going 14 under par through the first two rounds. 

Sophomore Maelynn Kim led the way in round one, going 2 under par, with junior Natalie Saint Germain and freshman Annika Ishiyama just behind at 1 under par apiece. 

Houston’s surge in round two was spearheaded by the pair of juniors Moa Svedenskiold and Alexa Saldana, who both went 4-under-par. Their stout performance in the round notched them a second-place placement. 

Saint Germain and Ishiyama followed up their first-round outing by once again going 1-under-par. Svedenskiold and Saldana also had the second-fewest strokes in the round, with 68. 

Despite the Cougars’ 7-under-par effort on Monday, it was not enough to prevent the TCU Horned Frogs from overtaking them for first place at the culmination of the third and final round. 

Svedenskiold finished the tournament 10th with a score of 210, Kim’s score of 211 landed her in 12th, Germain finished 14th, with Ishiyama at 18th right behind to round off Houston’s 25 finishers. 

Saldana finished 31st after an up-and-down round three, and redshirt senior Brooke Morales finished 59th.

This group continues to make strides, and it’s been reflected in both the results and the national rankings. The Cougars improved 11 spots from their 36th-place ranking after last season. 

The Cougars will kick off the spring season on international grounds at the Collegiate Invitational in Guadalajara, Mexico beginning on Jan. 31. 

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