COLUMBIA, Mo. – Julia Hall and Emma Sabbagh carded matching first-round scores of 77 in the opening round of Missouri's Johnie Imes Invitational on Monday afternoon, leading the Coyotes who sit in 15th as a team after the opening day of play at the Club at Old Hawthorne.
 
Hall and Sabbagh each fired five-over on Monday and are tied for 42nd among the 78-player field. As a team, South Dakota fired a 312 to open the tournament; host Missouri (290) leads Summit League program Oral Roberts (296) by six shots entering the second round of action on Tuesday. Missouri's Noelle zoe Beijer and FIU's Agueda Cortilla-Mas are tied atop the leaderboard with matching three-under 69's.
 
Freshman Jalea Culliver took third on South Dakota's card with an opening-round 78, the best round of her young collegiate career thus far and also the top single-round score by a Coyote freshman this fall.
 
Rounding out the card for the Coyotes through one round were Laerke Jensen (80) and Olivia Roper (86).
 
Play is set to resume for South Dakota on Tuesday morning at 9:30 a.m. with the second round on the par-72, 6,204-yard course layout. The Coyotes will then wrap up the tournament on Wednesday before heading to Las Cruces, N.M., for the New Mexico State Aggie Invitational early next week.