Kiawah Island, S.C.----The Belmont Abbey College women’s golf team posted a team score of 305 and holds a one-shot lead after the opening round of the eighth annual Tusculum College/Kiawah Island Intercollegiate Saturday. The two-day, 36-hole tournament is being held at the par 72, 5,876-yard Cougar Point Golf Club.

Daytona State is second with 306, while Rollins is third with 308. Florida Southern, who has won this event the last two seasons, posted 314 and is fourth, followed by Saint Leo (315) to round out the top five. Barry is sixth with 319, followed by Savannah College of Art and Design (332), Armstrong Atlantic (333), Wingate (334), Newberry (337), Lincoln Memorial (339), Lynn (342), host Tusculum (347), UNC Pembroke (348), Mount Olive (356) and Columbus State (387).

Defending tournament medalist Joanna Coe of Rollins has the first-round lead with an even-par round of 72, two shots ahead of Belmont Abbey’s Michele Low and Ashley Mooney of Daytona State, who each fired 74. Andrea Perez (SCAD), Melissa Siviter (Belmont Abbey), Ashley Denton (Wingate) and Mitsuki Katahira (Daytona State) are in a four-way tie for fourth place at 75.

Wingate is ninth in the 16-team field. The Bulldogs shot 334 on the first day, the top score among the four South Atlantic Conference schools participating in the event. A two-time All-SAC performer, Denton shaved two strokes off her 2009 first-day Kiawah score. She shot 77 in the first round last year.

Bulldog junior Andrea Velasquez (Anaco, Venezuela) posted an 83 Saturday. Senior Allie Osberg (Chester Springs, Pa.) and junior Anna Lee Croom (Asheboro, N.C.) both shot an 88, while freshman Megan Levy (Zebulon, N.C.) carded a 92 Saturday.

The event is the first spring competition for the Bulldogs. The tournament will conclude with Sunday’s final round. Wingate finished tied for sixth in the 2009 Tusculum College/Kiawah Island Intercollegiate.