TUCSON, Ariz. – The MSU Denver women's golf team finished its two-tournament road trip on a positive note Tuesday, with an 18-stroke improvement from the opening round to move up four spots and tie for 13^th at the West Texas A&M Desert Invitational.
 
The Roadrunners' score of 30-over par 318 on Tuesday was tied for the 17^th best of the 36 rounds shot by the 18 teams at the 5,978-yard, par-72 The Lodge at Ventana Canyon course. There were eight teams at tournament ranked in the national top 50.
 
"Today was a good improvement from yesterday," MSU Denver coach Stef Ferguson said. "And even though we didn't finish as high in the field as we would have liked, we moved up four spots against a lot of nationally-ranked teams."
 
MSU Denver wound up tied with Midwestern State (Texas), which is ranked 50^th in Division II.
 
Leading the way Tuesday was freshman Mackenzie Carpenter, who shot 5-over 77 in a steady round that included two birdies and 13 pars.
 
Isabel Botero and Winnie Shaw each shot 79 Tuesday.
 
Botero finished tied for 48^th individually at 19-over, first-round team leader Courtney Lawler shot 83 – including 2-over on her final nine holes – to wind up tied for 54^th at 20-over, Carpenter tied for 59^th at 21-over, and Shaw tied for 69^th at 24-over.
 
"Mack played great today, Winnie and Isa hung in there so well, and Court made a great comeback on the last nine," Ferguson said.
 
The Roadrunners are off until the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships, April 17-19.
 
"We've seen a ton of great things from the girls leading into conference, and we are so excited to see how they can put it all together," Ferguson said.