Tanya Chilton | The News

Nina Bowers, senior, drives a shot during her last home match at Cross Creek Country Club Wednesday.

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The East Surry Cardinals swung for their first golf victory of the season Wednesday in a surprising win over the top seeded South Stokes Sauras and second-place ranked North Surry Greyhounds during the 1A/2A Northwest Conference High School Girls’ Golf Tournament.

The match was Mount Airy’s last home game and was hosted by Cross Creek Country Club.

The Cardinals clinched victory with at 144 score, staying one stoke under the top-ranked Sauras, whose score totaled 145.

Playing in the top bracket for the Cards (composed of the top three players) were: Madison Moore, who shot for 40 points; Elizabeth Shelton, who shot 51 points; and Lindsay Chamblin, who shot for 53. Combined, these lean numbers gave them the narrow one-point margin that beat conference leader South Stokes, who scored a 145.

For the Sauras, Brooke Kiger scored 49; Meagan Mabe scored 48; and Brook Martin shot 48. Coach Ken Mendenhall said his players are usually very consistent, and Kiger and Mabe usually shoot around a 42 to 43 average. Overall, the Sauras have 23 wins, one tie and two losses.

The Mount Airy Bears, North Surry Greyhounds, East Surry Cardinals, Surry Central Golden Eagles, West Stokes Wildcats and North Stokes Vikings competed against one another on the par 36 course in the nine-hole match.

The Bears final score was 177; and Greyhounds was 146.

Coach Tommye Phillips for the Mount Airy Bears has helped build the team since Carol Burke, retired chairwoman of the school board, along with Coach Eddie Cobb started it in 1998. Phillips has been coaching since 1999 and is passionate about the sport. Though in a rebuilding year, the Bears have frequently dominated the conference in the sport of girls golf.

Phillips said that her personal goal is for young girls to look up to big Lady Bears and say, “I can be a golfer like them some day.” She loses two of her seniors this year — Catherine Scott, captain, and Nina Bowers, whom she recruited at Subway. Bowers is going into the Air Force and says that she loves golf and how much Coach Phillips and Cookie Boggs have influenced her love for the sport.

Surry Central and West Stokes are young teams, but coaches are enthusiastic and making the effort to build up the sport of girls golf in the area. Their scores did not enter into the official team match tally because the Golden Eagles had only two players Wednesday of their usually three. Coach Daniel Broughton said the team’s top player, Star Burton, has shot a 55 this season, enough to qualify her for the regionals.

West Stokes Wildcats girls golf Coach Tim Hudgins said he started coaching girls golf this year because one female player named Alivia Daniels called him and asked if she could play. He said that he told her that one player was all it took, and Daniels, he said, who had only played a few times with her grandfather, has improved so much that she qualified for regionals in her first golf tournament. Hudgins said parents interested in their daughters playing golf could call him at Pilot Knob Park at 368-2828.

North Stokes entered also with one player.

Pilot Knob Park will host next week’s conference finale on Monday at 11:30 a.m.The team champion and top 12 players and coach of the year will be determined.