UNCW women’s golf coach Cindy Ho likes the direction her team is taking. After a sometimes sluggish fall season, the Seahawks show improvement early in the spring section of the schedule.

But Ho felt her squad, ranked solidly in the 40s in the Golfdigest.com poll, can get even better.

The Seahawks, who played host at the Seahawk Invitational March 22-23 at Wallace’s River Landing Golf Club, finished fourth at the competitive Waterlefe/USF Invitational in Bradenton, Fla., March 15-16.

UNCW’s ability to play well in bad conditions in Florida impressed Ho. The Seahawks battled long days (playing 36 holes a session), stormy conditions and tricky Bermuda Grass.

The Seahawks struggled on the first day, but battled into contention when it confronted the bad conditions.

“On the last day, the weather was bad and we knew there was lightning in the area,” Ho said. “We got called off… When we got back out there, we had a chance. Because when conditions are worse, you have a chance to catch (opponents). Miami was in first place. We beat Miami by one.”

“We were able to beat College of Charleston. Catch Louisville. So for the team, they did an outstanding job on the last day.” Compiling all the good points about the Seahawks: the ability to come back, a third-place individual performance from Audrey Gale (75-73-77=225) and some solid performances from the rest of the team’s five players.

UNCW can be optimistic.

And when that gets combined with where the Seahawks can improve, a repeat performance as champions of the Big South Conference and a trip to the NCAA Tournament seems very real.

“We made some mistakes,” Ho said of Waterlefe. “We played well, but we left some shots out there. To win a tournament you can’t do that.”Right now, I’m really pleased. We’re looking for consistency from our players. But Audrey Gale has really stepped up the last two weeks. Amalie Farrah, who really struggled last semester, was in the top-10 at (the season-opening tournament at) LSU. So right now we just need all five players to play on a consistent basis all day. It’s nice that people are stepping up, but we’re doing it individually,” said Ho.

The Seahawks are favorites to repeat as conference champions, but a little improvement makes the team rest a little better.

“We’re kind of a bubble team. Unless we get an automatic bid and we win our conference championship,” Ho said. “We’re ranked right now 13th or 14th in the district, the East. Which is a good … but teams are in front of us. We have to work hard to stay there.”

“It’s a coin toss to get in. Any thing we do to get better by April is fine. You want that extra security to get in.”