Matthews commits to play at Missouri St.

Notre Dame golf coach Jerry Grim said senior Emily Matthews has taken a fair share of good-natured ribbing as the lone girl on the boys team.

But Matthews played a big role in Notre Dame's team finish at the SEMO Conference tournament on Tuesday, one day after she selected Missouri State for her college choice.

Matthews shot a 91 in the SEMO tourney at Dalhousie, posting the fifth score for the Bulldogs. After Notre Dame tied Jackson at 339 on the scores for the top four golfers, Matthews' 91 broke the tie by two shots over Jackson's Todd Heuring. Her score tied for 28th in a field of 57 golfers. She finished ahead of 29, including the entire teams for Kennett and Saxony Lutheran.

"It takes a lot for a girl to come out for the boys golf team," Grim said, "and she takes a lot of friendly abuse."

But Matthews has been a contributor in Notre Dame's lineup the last two seasons, and began to show up on the radar screen of colleges as she made the transition from a three-sport athlete — volleyball, basketball, soccer — to devoting more time on her new sport.

She had considered the University of Evansville, but was informed recently by coach Jim Hamilton that tuition at the school would be climbing.

With a 33 ACT score, Matthews had financial options with golf and academics. She took her time weighing those options.

"My guidance counselor said, 'You need to pick a school, you need to make a decision,'" Matthews said Tuesday. "Yesterday morning at 8:30, I was like, 'It's Missouri State.' I think after I made my mind up, it seemed easier to take in."

Matthews will not sign a letter of intent, instead using academic packages that will cover her tuition. She will walk-on for her first season.

"I really wanted to continue playing golf, and Missouri State has a really good program," Matthews said.

The Bears are in the same conference with Evansville — Missouri State finished sixth, three spots ahead of the Aces, in this year's Missouri Valley tourney — but Matthews said Hamilton understood her decision.

"I think he knew when he told me their tuition was going up," she said. "He was really a great help. He came and watched me hit, and he helped with my game. He opened my eyes about the recruiting process and told me what's good and what's bad."

Grim said, "It will be a great experience for her. She loves the game and works hard at it."

Runner-up Central

With Jack Connell's 79, he was among the top 10 golfers in the SEMO Conference tournament for the third time in his career. All three times, Connell shot 79.

He tied for fourth this year, was alone in fourth last year, and tied for sixth in 2006. He shot an 81 in 2005 to finish tied for 11th.

All four years, the tournament has been played at Dalhousie, where Connell's father Jack is the director of golf.

"I've been around here enough that when I make mistake, I usually know how to fix it," the younger Connell asid. "Home-course advantage helps a lot."

Junior Tim Simmons shot an 81 while battling a stomach virus.

Connell and Simmons will play next week at the state tourney, but the rest of the Tigers are done for the year.

"It's kind of gone unnoticed, but these kids were 18-2 for the season," said Central coach Dick Wadlington, whose team had a dual meet win against Poplar Bluff. "I'm real proud of the whole group."

In the hunt

While Poplar Bluff sophomore Trent Hillis was pulling away from the players in his group and the group behind him on his way to medalist honors Tuesday, Jackson freshman Tanner Werner was trying to stay in the hunt while playing in a group six holes ahead.

Werner, who is headed to the Class 4 state meet next week, thought even-par 72 or 1-over 73 would be the winning score. He was 2-over heading to his finishing hole, No. 6, but he lipped out his par putt and ended up with a bogey.

He settled for second place with his 75.

"I knew I needed to shoot in the low 70s, but Trent came in with a good score," said Werner, who ended up with his best score in competition at Dalhousie. "I missed a couple of putts I could have made but it was a pretty good round. I hit it better than I have and made a couple more putts than most times."