Team takes sixth in conference tourney

With a 292 second round score that moved them from seventh to third place Friday, the Hoosiers were primed to make a run for their eighth Big Ten Championship. But unfavorable playing conditions struck throughout the weekend and the team quickly fell in the standings to sixth place.\n"We just did not show up and play golf (Sunday)," Coach Sam Carmichael said in a press release. "Sure it was cold and the wind was really blowing, but all the teams had to play in it. We're not going to use that as an excuse. We simply played awful."\nSaturday, heavy rain suspended third round play after nine holes. Sunday, wind gusts of 40 miles per hour blew while the teams played their final 27 holes. The wind raised scores across the board as no team registered a sub-300 score during the final two rounds. The Hoosiers fired a 335 third round and a 340 fourth round to fall out of contention for the title and cement a sixth place finish. \nThe Hoosiers struggled in the first round Friday, posting a team score of 305 that had them in seventh place. But, the team bounced back in the second round on Friday, with a 292, the third best score in school history. Sophomore Karen Dennison's two-under par 72, junior Cara Stuckey's 73 and sophomore Danah Ford's 72 bolstered the team's jump from seventh to third after the first day. Carmichael said in a press release he wasn't surprised by the team's quick turnaround.\n"I wasn't worried at all about our team," he said. "In a tournament like this, you have so many more holes to play, you can't get bent out of shape after one bad round."\nThe Hoosiers completed the third and fourth rounds Sunday but struggled in the windy conditions. Senior captain Tiffany Fisher's 10-over par 82 in the third round was a team best, followed by Dennison, who carded an 83. In the final round, sophomore Ambry Bishop shot the team best score, also an 82, followed by Ford with an 85. The team finished the tournament with a 1272 team score, three strokes better than Northwestern for sixth place. \nOhio State (122) won the tournament by 10 strokes over Purdue. Michigan. Michigan State and Illinois rounded out the top five. In finishing ahead of IU, Purdue earned a point in the all-sport Titan Series competition between the Hoo-siers and Boilermakers. IU still leads, but by only one point, 8-7. \nIn the individual standings, Ohio State had two players in the top five: Junior Mollie Fankhauser, the overall leader at 304 and freshman Lindsay Knowlton, who took fifth with a 306. Those two book-ended a trio of second place finishers in Wisconsin sophomore Malinda Johnson, Michigan senior LeAnna Wicks and Purdue senior Caroline Laurens. \nFor the Hoosiers, Dennison tied for 18th with a 314, Stuckey tied for 27th with a 321 and Ford tied for 28th with a 322.