WAIKOLOA, Calif. --- The Biola Eagles saved some of their best golf for last at the Dennis Rose Intercollegiate. On the final day of competition on the Big Island, Head Coach Jane Carr's group delivered a sub-300 team score at 299, wrapped up the tournament with two top-10 finishers and nearly had a hole in one. 

The playing conditions were more favorable during the third round than they were on Tuesday, so the Eagles (303-311-299) remained in fourth place because each of the top four programs kept their position with team scores under 300 in the third round. 

The 10 teams in the field posted a total of two sub-300 teams scores in the first two days of the tournament. 

Marcel Manalo (80-76-69) continued her torrid rise up the leaderboard over the final two rounds of the tournament with the best round of the day from the 55-player field. She moved up 16 spots into the top-10 after steadily completing the front nine at even par and creating three birdie chances on the back nine. 

Manalo converted two of those chances to finish the day one-under, two strokes better than any single round score an Eagles had played this year and three shots better than her previous collegiate best. 

Sophomore Sami Penor (71-80-74) also had a solid charge down the home stretch to match Manalo and earn her third-straight top-10 finish to begin the year. She didn't hit any bogeys over her final nine holes and birdied holes 15 and 17 to bring her score down to +4. Consequently, Penor will come back to the mainland with the best scoring average on the team by a full stroke 
(75.57). 

Like Penor, Sophia Karnazes also birdied the 17th hole before the close of her round; but her approach shot was so excellent that she almost had a hole in one. Karnazes came within centimeters of the cup and stopped for pictures before the tap-in.

 

Outside of the 17th hole, Karnazes (78-78-75) sank six-consecutive putts for par on holes eight through 14 to improve upon her second round by three strokes and end the tournament as Biolas' third best finisher (25th place). 

She was joined in the top-30 by Jules Loibl (74-79-83) and followed closely by Alexis Gopfert (80-78-81), who carded Biola's fourth counting score on Wednesday. 

The Dennis Rose Intercollegiate was the final tournament of the calendar year for Biola Women's Golf. After completing the fall semester, the Eagles will play four tournaments in the leadup to the PacWest Championship. The first tournament they'll play in the Spring is the PLNU Reach, which starts on February 3.