CHANDLER, Ariz. – The back nine at the Whirlwind Golf Club is made for the MSU Denver women's golf team.
 
For the second straight day at the RMAC Championships, the Roadrunners tore it up from holes 10 through 18, as the they successfully leveled off an uneven first nine rounds to finish the second round in fifth place.
 
And, heading into the final day, first-round leader Isabel Botero – after rallying in the back nine – is in third place at 2-over-par 146.
 
Botero is five strokes behind the leader, but is only one shot out of second place. She leads the tournament in scoring average on par 3s (2.63) and is second on part 5s (4.75).
 
"Isa is playing really well," MSU Denver coach Stef Ferguson said. "It's fun to see her hanging in there and staying so steady."
 
As a team, MSU Denver shot 21-over 309 on Sunday's opening day, but was already 19-over among its top four scorers through nine holes Monday. However, the Roadrunners' top four played the back nine at 6-over – they were 1-over before losing a combined five shots to par on the 18^th. They finished the day at 25-over 313.
 
MSU Denver trails fourth-place Colorado Mesa by three strokes and third-place Regis by six heading into Tuesday's final day.
 
Besides Botero's four-over 76, the Roadrunners also got a round of 6-over 78 by Sydney Eye, 7-over 79 from Winnie Shaw and 8-over 80 from Mackenzie Carpenter.
 
Individually behind Botero after two days, Shaw is tied for 14^th at 11-over, Eye is tied for 21^st at 13-over, and Carpenter and Courtney Lawler are tied for 42^nd at 23-over.

"We started really rough today, but the girls really stayed patient and got a few back on the second nine," Ferguson said. "We needed to shoot a little lower today, but we are still in the hunt for a top-three finish tomorrow. We're looking forward to finishing the season strong."