Coppell wins District 6

The Coppell girls golf team poses with the District 6-6A tournament first-place trophy at Bear Creek Golf Club on Tuesday.

DALLAS – Practice made perfect for the Coppell girls golf team.

To prepare for all of the intricacies of Bear Creek Golf Club, every team in District 6-6A got in 36 holes of golf on that course last Friday and Saturday in the district preview tournament. And for Coppell, the Cowgirls couldn't have asked for a better two days, winning by a whopping 42 strokes.

Although other teams ever-so-slightly closed the gap on Coppell this week, the Cowgirls still put forth another dominant effort. Led by freshmen Alicia Bellendir and Nethra Sheri, Coppell came out on top by 29 strokes at the 6-6 Tournament with a two-day total of 630. Hebron is also bound for the Region I-6A Tournament after finishing in second place with a 659.

"We actually played much better in the preview than we did today," said Gary Beyer, Coppell head coach. "The girls were grinding the whole time. It was a little windy today. It was a little cold here yesterday morning, but everyone has to play in the conditions. The girls just gutted it out."

Coppell is headed back to the Region I-6A Tournament for the third straight season, although it has a slightly different look following the departures of Lauren Rios and Mia Gaboriau, both of whom are playing golf collegiately after helping lead the Cowgirls to the state tournament a year ago.

Bellendir and Sheri handled the big stage of the district tournament rather well. Sheri landed on the all-district second team after she shot 157 to finishing in a two-way tie for third place along with Hebron sophomore Iayla Horton. Bellendir, meanwhile, was a first-team honoree after she shot 151 to earn second place.

"In a tournament like this, it's all about the team," Beyer said. "My No. 1 player had two rough days. In this team sport like this, if you take four of the five scores, other parts of the wheel will pick her up, and they put her on their shoulders."

Bellendir kept the pressure on Hebron sophomore Stalee Fields. But Fields’ short-game abilities allowed her to hold off a serious challenge from Bellinder. Fields won the individual title with a 147, recording just one double-bogey on Tuesday along with three birdies.

"I putted it really well today," Fields said. "I kept it in the fairway. I stayed out of trouble. I stayed consistent."

Hebron, like Coppell, had to reload its roster after losing significant pieces from last year's run to the state tournament. Fields is the lone returner of the Lady Hawks’ top-five scorers that captured fourth place in the state.

So far, Hebron has had several underclassmen step up, including Horton, who shot rounds of 78 and 79 for a two-day total of 157. Senior Grace Simonsen earned 19th overall with a total of 174. That allowed the Lady Hawks to hold off a good challenge from Flower Mound (665), who got as close as three strokes of Hebron halfway through Tuesday.

"We had 10 seniors last year, and it was a really good group," said Jeff Fields, Hebron head coach. "That group passed the tradition on to the younger girls. We talked about the tradition of the girls’ golf program at Hebron. It didn't start off good this year, but they were developing and getting experience at the varsity level. It's a maturation process of these girls.

"They kept battling and didn't break. There were times where they made a triple or double but didn't break. They stuck with the plan and moved onto the next hole."

Marcus and Plano West will both have representation in the regional tournament.

Marauders sophomore Kaetie Samuels was the first individual qualifier from a non-qualifying team. She used a strong effort on the back nine on Tuesday to advance, shooting 3-over-par 39 and had an overall score of 158, tying her with Coppell senior Rylie Allison for fifth place.

And on a day filled with underclassmen setting the tone, West freshman Eileen Lee was just as consistent. She shot 36 on both the front and back nine with a two-day score of 160, which was good for seventh place.

Allison, meanwhile, was one of five Cowgirls to finish in the top 15. Freshman Riya Bapna was 13th with a 164. Senior Kirstin Angosta tied for 16th with a 167.

The Region I-6A tournament is set for April 17-18 at Tangle Ridge Golf Club in Grand Prairie.

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Team scores

1. Coppell 630

2. Hebron Black 659

3. Flower Mound Navy 665

4. Flower Mound Silver 665

5. Plano West Blue 704

6. Plano East Black 711

T-7. Hebron Blue 764

T-7. Plano 764

9. Lewisville 804

10. Plano West White 877

11. Plano East Gold 1,039

Top 10 individual scores

1. Stalee Fields, so., Hebron 147

2. Alicia Bellendir, fr., Coppell 151

T-3. Nethra Sheri, fr., Coppell 157

T-3. Iayla Horton, so., Hebron 157

T-5. Kaetie Samuels, so., Marcus 158

7. Eileen Lee, fr., Plano West 160

8. Anika Das, so., Plano West 161

9. Lindsey Li, jr., Plano East 162

T-10. Megan Sriyaphandh, Plano East, 163

T-10. Sunny Nanda, so., Flower Mound 163

T-10. Emile Chile, so., Flower Mound, 163

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