The Wildcats have struggled with consistency throughout this season, often falling behind in the final round. Last weekend at the Big Ten Championships, they reversed the trend with a strong performance in the final round to secure a fourth place overall finish in West Lafayette, Ind.

Over the final 18 holes, Northwestern shot an impressive 17-over 305 – a drastic improvement from their 39-over 327 first-round showing.

NU finished with a 106-over 1258 (327-312-314-305), falling three strokes behind third place Ohio State and six strokes ahead of Iowa.

The Cats have consistently seen improvement throughout the season. But their jump from seventh to fourth in the conference’s biggest event of the year further demonstrated the improvements under first-year coach Emily Fletcher.

For the second year in a row, sophomore Kelsey Lindenschmidt took the top finish for NU, shooting a 24-over 312 (80-78-78-76). That marked the first top-ten finish of her career, as she placed 10th overall. Her top-10 finish marked a vast improvement from finishing tied for 28th in last year’s championships.

Lindenschmidt also led the team with four birdies, one more than freshman Alexandra Lederhausen.Lederhausen finished the 72-hole tournament with 30-over 318 (83-82-74-79), securing 15th place and the third top-20 finish of her career.

Along with Lindenschmidt, NU received a pair of top-25 finishes from underclassmen Innapha Tantanavivat (20th-tie) and Kylie Fuller (25th-tie).

In her last regular season tournament, senior Jennifer Hong struggled with a 36-over 324 (87-76-80-81).

Holding the home-course advantage, 11th-ranked Purdue took home their second Big Ten Championship, out-shooting second place Michigan State by 37 strokes.

The Cats are now waiting to hear if their improved season was enough to earn them an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.