The No. 14 ASU women's golf team finished in third place, shooting an eight under round Wednesday, at the Anunue Spring Break Classic in Maui, Hawaii.
This time, it wasn't just sophomore Noemi Jimenez who placed at the top of the leader board for the Sun Devils. Junior Laura Blanco turned in an impressive performance as well.
Jimenez (-4), who shot one under Wednesday, finished tied for third with Washington's sophomore SooBin Kim, marking her third-straight top-three finish this spring.
"She played so well the first day, made bunch of birdies that day and was really on," coach Melissa luellen said. "She kept it up and put together a very impressive three rounds."
The sophomore standout placed only behind Pepperdine junior Grace Na and Denver junior Tonje Daffinrud.
Blanco (-3) made her way up the standings by shooting five under in the tourney's final round, her best round while as a Sun Devil, and finished tied for fifth with UCLA senior Tiffany Lua.
"Laura (Blanco) had zero bogeys today, which was fantastic," Luellen said. "She's been wanting to shoot under par and finally did. She played high performance golf and posted a 67, a career low for her."
Sophomore Emilie Alonso (+1) started Wednesday's round tied for 29th, however, a three under in the contest's third round propelled her to a 16th place tie with another Bruin, junior Ani Gulugian.
"The last few days Emilie (Alonso) played great and gained a lot of confidence," Luellen said. "There's no one that fights harder on the golf course, today's round was evident of that."
Junior Daniela Ordonez (+6) finished in a four-way tie for 30th shooting three over in the third and final round of the Classic.
"The second day she didn't hit that ball too well but came back and finished great," Luellen said. "Today, she kept battling. I though it was a solid outing for her, and anytime you're upset about a 75, that's not such a bad thing."
The results were pleasing for junior Justine Lee (+14), who was participating in her first tournament since the fall.
"Considering it was her first first round of golf last week, she really did a good job at getting through the rounds. She was thrilled to help and be able to contribute to the team's score," Luellen said.
As for individual entrant junior Nicole Jones's (+28), tough times continue as she placed just four spots ahead of last place. Luellen said more play at the collegiate level is all she needs to improve on her latest showing.
"Nicole (Jones) is a walk-on and she doesn't have a ton of tournament experience and it takes a lot of experience to be able to play well in these tournaments," Luellen said. "She just needs to keep playing to get to show what she's capable of."
One of the top team's in the nation, No. 10 UCLA (-10), finished with the top spot on the team leader board followed by No. 12 Washington (-6).
Behind ASU came Pepperdine (+5) in fourth, trailed by (+22) Oregon and No. 5 Stanford (+25).
ASU's third place finish proves the team can hang with the best in the country.
"The girls are starting to really believe that," Luellen said. "Were starting to see better scores from everyone. Being able to compete is having everyone clicking at the same time and when we do that we're capable of beating anyone."
Their improved play should also help them move up in the standings from their current spot at 14.
"I think our scoring average was good this week," Luellen said. "We beat teams ranked ahead of us. We're a solid team, and now we're healthy, so you'll see us moving up."
The team's next tournament will come on April 12 through April 14 at Karsten Golf Course in Tempe, as the lady Sun Devils will host the PING/ASU Invitational.
Reach the reporter at adrian.martinez.1@asu.edu
