Although the sun was shining over the Scarlet Course at Ohio State last weekend, the women's golf team was stuck in the shadow of its Big Ten opponents.

Penn State, lacking the composure and leadership of some of the stronger teams, finished in 15th place.

"I really don't have any leaders on the team. No one sets the example of going the extra length that it takes," Coach Denise St. Pierre said.

St. Pierre said the poor finish and score of 1,037 is probably related to lack of practice, which the Lady Lions need more of.

"You can't expect to play well when you only put in an hour and a half," she said.

The lack of practice may be why some of the Lady Lions were getting in trouble right off of the tee. Poor tee shots left golfers struggling to recover and find the greens. Getting the ball on the greens was no consolation in most cases, because the golfers were misjudging the way the greens were breaking.

"They've got to be able to read the greens well enough to putt the way they know how to putt," St. Pierre said.

The conditions and the demanding course made all the team scores higher, but St. Pierre said the Lady Lions suffered because they were throwing away shots. With the tough competition of Big Ten schools, high scores are fatal. The team needs to consistently post low scores to help provide confidence in the other players.

"Good low scores breed other good low scores," St. Pierre said.

Although the Scarlet Course is a difficult and a long course, the conditioning the team does prepared it for the physical side of the game.

"It was more mentally demanding. We try too hard and we fall apart," sophomore Colleen Scally said.

Scally said although the team could have played better, most golfers hung in there and improved their scores on the last day. Scally, Sherri McDonald, Erin White and Heather Preston posted their lowest scores in the third round.

While the members of the team were struggling with their games, McDonald was also struggling with a back problem that caused a 10-point difference between her second and third round scores. St. Pierre said the second round on Saturday was too much for McDonald to handle.

"She definitely playing in pain that second 18," St. Pierre said.

This week, the team will focus on the Lady Lion Invitational, which begins Saturday. Although the team is familiar with the Blue Course, the recent layout changes have prompted some modifications in strategy for the golfers.

Even after the poor performance at the Ohio State Invitational, St. Pierre said she is looking for a good competition and has confidence in the talent of her team.

"We should win our home tournament," she said.

Scally said playing on the home course is always an advantage because the familiarity of the course helps to build confidence.

"I think the key is to get comfortable with the course, not to put pressure on ourselves and just go out there and play," she said.