The Kingwood Park girls golf team defends its 5A state title.

The Kingwood Park girls golf team defended its Class 5A state title Tuesday at Wolfdancer Golf Club in Austin.

Kingwood Park posted a two-day team score of 608, finishing with a 51-stroke advantage over second place Austin Vandegrift. Sharyland finished third with a 666.

Hannah Alberto (72-75, 147) helped lead the effort and finished tied for the individual championship before a playoff.

Kingwood Park entered the second day with an 18-stroke lead and didn’t look back.

“This year, we knew what we were getting into,” Kingwood Park coach Angela Chancellor said. “We kind of had a target on our back all year. We took some lumps early. We didn’t win every tournament we entered this year. For us coming into the spring, we really wanted to kind of change our focus.”

Montgomery sophomore Hailee Cooper didn’t defend her Class 6A state title, but she did have arguably the best shot of the day at Legacy Hills Golf Club in Georgetown.

Cooper chipped in from 80 feet away on the 18th green, drawing applause from the gallery.

“I went 9-iron and was just a bump-and-run; I wanted that for my team,” Cooper said. “Our coach told us we would be in good shape if we went after birdies. So I tried to make (the green) in two (shots) and it was nice to finish like that.”

It helped Cooper finish with a two-day total of 149. She improved by five strokes from Monday’s 77 and shot an even-par 72 on Tuesday.

Combined with Autumn Bynum’s 1-over-par 145 (7372), it helped Montgomery secure second place as a team. Bynum finished one stroke away from the podium; Lake Travis’ Kristen Gillman won the individual title with a two-day score of 141 (68-73).

Montgomery finished with a two-day team score of 618 (313-305)

Lake Travis entered Tuesday with a 24-shot lead on the field and closed out the championship with a two-day score of 580.

Austin Westlake finished second with a 607, Allen was fourth with a 626.

Memorial finished fifth in the team standings with a 633 team score. Tiffany Nyugen led the way for Memorial with a 154 (8074) and improved by six strokes from Monday.

Seven Lakes secured a 655 team score, led by sisters Isha Dhruva and Ashni Dhruva, who carded 153 and 156, respectively.

On the boys side, The Woodlands finished with a team score of 609, good for a seventh-place tie. Jacob Slay led the Highlanders with a 149 (74-75).

Clear Lake’s Cody Banach and Fort Bend Travis’ Logan Pate had two of the best individual showings, each carding 148s.

Banach helped Clear Lake to a team score of 609, good for a seventh-place tie with The Woodlands.