The women's golf team finished spring break on a high note by placing second in the Peggy Kirk Bell Invitational at Winter Park, Fla.

Cathy Gitzendanner led the Lady Lions with a third-place finish and a three-round total of 235. Kim Cayce of Duke, the team champion, won the tournament with a 231.

"I'm thrilled," assistant coach Denise St. Pierre said. "But it would have been nice to catch Duke."

Duke is ranked in the Top 20 nationally.

The Lady Lions totaled 956 for the 18-team tournament, finishing eight strokes behind Duke (948), but edging North Carolina (957) by a stroke.

St. Pierre said the team is playing more like it should now, though she is not surprised.

"It's the best we've ever done in this tournament, but I knew they had the potential," she said.

Aside from Gitzendanner, other scorers for the team included Wendy MacTurk (238), Kristin Clark (240), Meg Young (243) and Kerry Lee O'Leary (254). Freshman Kristin Lindgren shot a 244 while playing the tournament individually.

Gitzendanner said she thought she played well in the tournament, especially on the first day, when she shot a 76.

"I had a lot of concentration," she said, "and I was in a zone."

Gitzendanner feels she is getting to where she wants to be, but she is trying to get stronger mentally. Her goal is to average 76 by the end of the spring season.

Although she is pleased with her own progress, Gitzendanner is happy with the way the team played.

"We proved something to the southern schools by finishing second even though we had only practiced for a week," she said. "We finished ahead of some very tough teams."

The Lady Lions' success came on the heels of a 15th-place finish in the Central Florida Invitational at Orlando, Fla., where the team faced some difficult circumstances.

The team played the tournament without the benefit of a practice round and was completely unfamiliar with the course. The weather also refused to cooperate as high winds forced the cancellation of the third day of the tournament.

Arizona won the 24-team tournament with a two day total of 626. Penn State ended with a score of 673.

St. Pierre downplayed the finish and attributed it to the difficult conditions that the Lady Lions faced. She said that the Peggy Kirk Bell Invitational was a much better indicator of the team's ability.

"I'm excited," she said. "It was a good confidence-builder for the girls."