ARROYO GRANDE, Calif., Nov. 2 - Southern Utah junior Kacy Buckner shaved two strokes off her first-round score to move up nine spots and finish at 6-over par 152 and in a tie for fifth place at Cal Poly's Lamkin Grip Invitational Tuesday. As a team the Thunderbirds slipped, however, finishing ninth after holding a share of third heading into Tuesday's final round at the par 73, 6,215-yard Cypress Ridge Golf Club.

Buckner shot an opening round 77 and was in a tie for 14th heading into Tuesday's play, then fired 75 to finish at 152, just two strokes behind champion Alexa Kim of Northern Arizona. Cal State Northridge's Kylie Kimura, Fresno State's Chelsea Czinski and Cal Poly's Alicia Weber were tied in second at 151. Buckner was in a group that included Boise State's Hayley Young, NAU's Stephanie Kim and Kaitlen Parsons and Long Beach State's Lindsey McAtee.

SUU's Sadie Palmer, who was tied for third place after a first-round 75, shot 80 on Tuesday to finish in a tie for 16th place at 155. Jamie Coking shot 164 (81-83) to finsh 49th, Kaohi Loo turned in a 167 (81-86) for a share of 60th and Brittany Edwards finished tied for 77th after shooting 176 (90-86). SUU's Morgan Kerber and Rose Pelletier, who were playing as independents, finished 76th (87-87, 174) and 82nd (93-90, 183), respectively.

As a team the Thunderbirds shot an opening round 314 but slipped 10 strokes to 324 on Tuesday to finish all alone in ninth at 638, one stroke behind Boise State and seven shots back of host Cal Poly and Sacramento State (631) who tied for sixth.

Northern Arizona claimed the team title at 612, followed by Fresno State (615), Long Beach State (617), CS Northridge (625) and UC Riverside (628) in fifth.

Rounding out the field, Santa Clara finished 10th, three shots behind SUU at 641, followed by Weber State (647), Montana State (652), Cal State Bakersfield and Seattle (662), Cal State San Marcos (683) and Idaho State (711).

-- SUU --