WALLACE, N.C. (March 24, 2009) - The ETSU women's golf team overcame a five-stroke deficit to move from third place to the top of the leaderboard on the final day of the UNCW Lady Seahawk Classic, ultimately staying at the top and winning the team title by six strokes over former Southern Conference foe Elon Tuesday afternoon at the River Landing Golf Club.

            The win marks the Buccaneers second team championship of the 2008-09 season and the fourth time the team has finished third or better in seven events this year. Individually, junior Laura Jansone (Jurmala, Latvia) posted the field's best individual round of the day with an even par 72 to earn a team-best second place showing on the tournament leaderboard.

            As a team, the Bucs finished at 903, while Elon (909) and East Carolina (916) rounded out the top three positions.

            "I'm so proud of the girls and the effort we had for all three rounds," said head coach Stefanie Shelton, who has now directed the Bucs to eight team victories in seven seasons at ETSU. "The key to winning these events is getting a strong contribution from everyone on the team and we did that over the last two days. It's not about a single individual effort. It takes quality scores across the board."

            Shelton was even more impressed by what her team overcame to get the win.

"The conditions were extremely windy and cold today," she said. "To shoot a 300 showed a lot of mental strength and that's what we need to make a run at nationals again this year."

While Jansone finished six strokes back of individual champion Danielle Mills of Elon, who posted a three-round score of 216 for the tournament, the Bucs placed four players in the top nine to pick up the overall team win. Senior Lucy Gould (Bargoed, Wales) finished fifth at 225, while junior Sinead O'Sullivan (Galway, Ireland) and freshman Nina Muehl (Vienna, Austia) were both tied for ninth at 230. Meanwhile freshman Mayte Vizcarrondo (Cadiz, Spain) tied for 18^th with a solid 232 effort.

The Bucs will return to action March 30 at the John Kirk/Lady Panther Intercollegiate in Stockbridge, Ga. That event will be the team's final tune up before the all important Atlantic Sun Conference Championships which are set to begin on April 13^th. At that event, the team will be hoping to defend their 2008 title and make back-to-back trips to the NCAA Regionals.