DADE CITY, Fla. — Freshman Merche Corbacho concluded her standout freshman season by tying for ninth-place, carding a 1-under 71 over the final round and 2-over 218 for the week as the Golden Eagles finished eighth at the C-USA Championships.

Corbacho’s final round matched a season-low for Southern Miss, which she also set to close out the season-opening Lady Red Wolves Classic. This weekend, she notched her fourth and fifth par/better round and had five birdies to close it out. As for the season, she had three top-10 standings out of her final four events.

“We’ve waited a year for this championship, and we came out swinging,” head coach Lucy Burke said. “Unfortunately, we lost a bit of steam today with a rocky start, but they held their own coming in. I’m extremely proud of the year Merche has had and her finish here showed that she’s going to be someone to keep an eye on in Conference USA for a while.”

Southern Miss’ 6-over 294 in Monday’s first round was its best of the year.

Friend Chompitakdacha had a remarkable performance as well, tying for 12th. It tied her best-career finish, set previously at the Lady Paladin Invitational in Fall 2019, and her 4-over 220 was both a season-low and one off matching a personal-best.

Valeria Pichardo finished 32nd, followed by Tenley Moretti at 51st and Emily Cox at 55th.

No. 33 North Texas claimed the title with a 1-under 863. Its 283 in the final round was its best of the week, with Audrey Tan winning individual honors with a 9-under 207.

Southern Miss Scores
T9. Merche Corbacho (72-75-71=218)
T12. Friend Chompitakdacha (73-72-75=220)
T32. Valeria Pichardo (73-75-81=229)
T51. Tenley Moretti (76-80-80=236)
55. Emily Cox (79-81-81=241)

Team Scores
1. North Texas (863)
T2. WKU (875)
T2. Middle Tennessee (875)
4. UTSA (877)
5. Old Dominion (887)
6. Florida Atlantic (895)
7. UTEP (900)
8. Southern Miss (903)
9. FIU (905)
10. Marshall (912)
11. UAB (916)