Eastern’s women’s golf team finished in 4th place at the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament, which held its final round Wednesday at The Shoals on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail in Muscle Shoals, Ala.

The Panthers shot a final round of 318 (+25) to finish with a three-day total of 968 (+104).

The fourth place finish was the Eastern women’s golf teams highest finish since the team finished in second place in 2003.

Jacksonville State won the team title with a three-day total of 934 (+70), 21 shots ahead of second-place Murray State.

The Panthers finished the first day in 7th place out of eight teams, but consistent play in the final two rounds propelled the Panthers up the leaderboard.

Junior Carrie Riordan had the best overall finish for the Panthers, with a final total of 238 (+22). She shot 85 (+13) in the first round, 78 (+6) in the second round and 75 (+3) on the final day. The first team All-OVC member finished tied for 9th place, the lone Eastern player to finish in the top 10.

Riordan said she was happy with her play, except for the first day.

“I really don’t know what happened the first day, it didn’t click,” Riordan said. “The second day I had a lot of two puts and (Wednesday) I was putting very well.”

Riordan said she was happy with the fight her team put up.

“We came back and fought back hard,” Riordan said. “We kept it up throughout and I am very happy about that.”

Junior Amy Simons stayed consistent, shooting a 79 (+7) in her final round. Simons shot a 92 (+20) the first day due to hitting a number of hazards, but bounced back with a 76 on the tournaments second day.

Simons said she did not hit any hazards on the third day of the tournament as well.

“I played OK (Wednesday). I had a couple of birdies on the front nine,” Simons said. “But my putting got away from me on the back nine and I had a couple of three puts.”

Simons said after her first round she did a good job of striking the ball better the final two rounds of the tournament.

“We did good,” Simons said. “We could have played better but we moved up from sixth place and finished in fourth and that was our goal.”

Her three-day score of 247 (+31) was good enough to finish 22nd overall.

Junior Katie Imburgia finished the tournament in a tie for 24th place after a final round 82 (+10). Her three-day score was 249 (+33).

Sophomore Jaymie Voorhees and senior Michelle Anderson finished on the heels of Imburgia as Voorhees shot a 250 (+34) and Anderson shot a 251 (+35).

The Panthers finished 11 strokes behind third place Eastern Kentucky whose three-day score was 957 (+93).

The weather Wednesday was gorgeous according to Riodan.

Players battled through sleet and high winds during Monday’s opening round.

Simons said the course played the toughest on Monday out of all three days today because the greens were fast.

Jacksonville State freshman Ashley Cox won the tournament with a three-day total of 230 (+14).

Dan Cusack can be reached at 581-7944 or at dscusack@eiu.edu.