The UTEP women's golf team wins the Wyoming Cowgirl Classic. (Photo courtesy of Wyoming Athletics)

EL PASO, TEXAS – Jere Pelletier knew his team was due for a good tournament.

It all started the previous weekend in the UALR Classic held at Hot Springs, Ark.

“We’ve been close to playing good but we just haven’t had the numbers,” Pelletier said. “We started to shoot well in Hot Springs, Ark.”

The team posted their best round of that tournament, shooting a 295 en route to their 900 total score that garnered them a fourth place finish. It wasn’t a first-place finish but it was foreshadowing what was to come in the following week.

As Pelletier put it, his team was finally learning to play the course better and not taking risky shots and improving their short game.

“The team is playing smarter and hitting the ball very well,” Pelletier said.

Managing the course was one of the other words Pelletier used when describing one of the reasons his team was able to shoot a school record 883 in the Wyoming Cowgirl Classic.

Two girls that have played well over the last two weeks are junior Rosana Gomez and sophomore Shang-Fan Huang.

Huang, shot a three under par 69 in the final round, while Gomez shot a 71, which garnered the duo a tie for seventh place.

“One girl slips and another steps up in her place,” Pelletier said.

That was the case for the team as it has three players rank in the Top 10. The aforementioned Huang and Gomez were joined by Teresa Nogués who finished in ninth place after carding rounds of (72-75-75).

The great play came at a perfect time because it marked UTEP’s first tournament win since tying for first at the Red Rock Invitational in Sedona, Ariz., in February, 2006. It is also UTEP’s first outright win since taking the Lindsey Classic in Bryant, Ark., in 2004.

That’s a lot of time between wins but the program had been in a bit of a rebuilding mode after Pelletier started with a very young core group of players. But now, it looks like he has plenty to work with after the team’s first tournament win in six years.

Best part is the team only has two seniors on the team, Samantha Garza and Deborah Martinez. The rest of the six players will return and be able to build upon their recent success.

“It’s looking good for next year,” Pelletier said chucking.

That may be true but there is still the Conference USA Tournament that the team must compete in. With the way the team has been playing, it could be a great ending to what looked like a rough season.