NorthWood’s Cybil Stillson gives her drive a look on the fourth hole, part of a birdie streak Stillson linked together Thursday evening. InkFreeNews photo by Mike Deak

By Adam Yoder
InkFreeNews

NAPPANEE – On a hot, humid night, the NorthWood girls golf team was on fire with their sticks.

After not practicing on Wednesday night to rest and heal, the Panthers (158) cruised past Plymouth (185) and Wawasee (209) to improve to 5-0 overall and 4-0 in the Northern Lakes Conference.

Cybil Stillson birdied four straight holes from holes two through five to add to her five pars on the way a blistering 32. That ties her own NorthWood record for birdies in nine-hole match.

Her fourth straight birdie came after a two-putt on the par-four fifth hole, where she lashed a driver over the pond from 248 yards and landed in the middle of the green.

The under 40 crew was joined by her teammates Riley Kitson (38) and Breanna Goss (39) from the three and two spots, respectively.

Kitson’s round of seven pars and two bogeys was a career-best for a nine-hole match at NorthWood.

Goss notched a tap in birdie on the par-four fourth to bounce back from a bogey on three, as well.

On the overall performance, head coach Adam Yoder commented, “First, we played outstanding and that makes it a lot of fun, no question, but what is so refreshing about this group is their demeanor and their willingness to listen to what Payton (Grubbs, assistant coach) and I are telling them about certain things. A lot of strong character in our team room, no question.”

A 49 from Bella Sechrist and 53 from Kira Schrock rounded out the Panthers lineup, who fired a season low for nine holes on the season.

Wawasee was led by Taylor Cripe’s 42 that included a birdie on the par-five eighth hole. Rylee Firestone’s 52, Morgan Reel’s 61, Izy Losee’s 58, and Delaney Delagrange’s 57 rounded out the Wawasee lineup. The Warriors are now 4-6 overall and 1-3 in the NLC.

Plymouth’s Noelle Hutchings was the JV medalist with a 50. Complete JV scores were unavailable.

The Warriors’ next stop is against Fairfield and Elkhart on Monday afternoon at Maxwelton.

The Panthers travel to the Hall of Fame Classic on Saturday to match their skills in the state of Indiana’s strongest high school invitational. This is the sixth consecutive season NorthWood will be in this invitation-only event. The shotgun start at the Golf Club at Eagle Pointe in Bloomington is 10 a.m.