Although Missouri women’s golf lifted itself off the foot of the leaderboard in the second round of the Southeastern Conference Championship, it now finds itself further away from qualifying for the next stage of the event.

The Tigers improved on their first-round total by two strokes Thursday after posting a team score of 3-over 291, but have now lost ground on the all-important eighth spot on the leaderboard.

Alabama, which is tied for seventh and in the last remaining match-play qualification spot, put up a 1-over 289 and is now 15 strokes ahead of Missouri with one round to play.

The Tigers sit in 13th, above only Georgia, and will need to climb above five teams to make it to the match-play portion of the championship.

LSU leads the event at 28-under for two rounds, pulling five strokes ahead of No. 1 South Carolina on Day 2.

The Gamecocks are currently fielding the individual leader, Pauline Roussin-Bouchard, who posted a second consecutive 5-under 67 to take a two-stroke lead into the final day of stroke play.

Missouri’s closest contender to Roussin-Bouchard’s individual lead remains Jessica Yuen, but she was not the Tigers’ top performer in Round 2.

Noelle Beijer posted a Thursday round of 3-under 69 to climb 15 spots on the individual leaderboard and into a tie for 40th. The round tied the second-lowest round of her MU career.

Yuen began the day within five strokes of the lead, but fell three strokes further back after a second-round 1-over 73. She will begin the final round in a tie for 30th place at 2 under.

Sophia Yoemans matched Yuen’s 73 on Thursday, and jumped up to a tie for 53rd at 5 over for the event. After turning in 4-over par, the sophomore put up four birdies and a bogey on the back nine to rescue her round.

Three strokes further back of Yoemans is freshman Emily Staples, who signed for a second straight 4-over 76 in Round 2. She is tied for 62nd overall.

Rounding out the Tigers’ roster, and its drop score for the second round, is Brianne Bolden, who struggled to an 11-over 83 on Thursday to plummet 24 spots on the leaderboard. The round was 10 strokes higher than her opening score and leaves her in 68th place.

Missouri will return for the third and final round at 9:10-9:50 a.m. Friday, paired with Texas A&M and Georgia, in need of one of its lowest rounds of the season to keep its season going.