Among the six Iowa qualifiers for the event was Marshalltown High School graduate and future Drake University women’s golfer Amber Henson.

Henson was paired with fellow Drake signee Erika Holmberg of Bettendorf in the morning session. They went up against the Kansas pairing of Maya McVey and Libby Green. The Kansas duo was ahead of much of the match and had a 3-up lead with four holes to play. Winning the 15th and 16th holes to get back within 1-down, Henson and Holmberg headed to the 18th hole needing to win in order to grab half a point for Iowa.

Henson said the two hit their tee shots into a similar area, and quickly realized a special shot was needed.

“The other girl hit it to five feet, and we said, ‘Something special needs to happen,'” Henson said. “It’s my turn and I actually made it, and it worked out great but obviously that isn’t something that normally happens. It was a good time to, though.”

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING - Marshalltown’s Amber Henson tees off on the par-3 12th hole at Elmwood Country Club during Thursday’s play in the 54th Junior Girls’ Four-State Championship.

The hole-out for eagle gave Iowa its only half-point of the morning session and made Henson’s match the only tie of the morning session. Nebraska won three morning matches and Missouri won two.

The afternoon was an alternate shot foursome format, with Henson lined up alongside Dubuque Wahlert junior Katelyn Vaassen. Henson and Vaassen were matched up against the Nebraska pair of Karsen Morrison and Emily Krzyzanowski and the match started on hole 16. Winning the first hole of the match with a par was not a sign of things to come, though, for Henson and Vaassen — Nebraska won the next five holes to go 4-up through six. After steadying the ship with two straight halves, Henson and Vaassen won two straight holes at the turn to get back to 2-down. A bogey on the par-four eighth and a birdie from the Nebraska duo on 10 pushed the lead back to 4-up with five holes to play. Eventually getting to dormie at 4-up with four holes to play, Henson and Vaassen had their backs against the wall.

Henson said it was a little more difficult to play alternate shot than the four-ball format, and explained what was different from the usual stroke-play format.

“I honestly think it’s a more fun format [than stroke play] because you have a teammate and you’re not alone,” Henson said. “There is a lot more pressure on putting because you have to make your putts. You can get it back with stroke play but that’s not how it works with match play.

“I honestly think that’s the hardest format in the tournament, the alternate shot. That was pretty tough, but it was fun.”

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING - Marshalltown High School graduate Amber Henson clenches her fist as her par putt slides past the cup on No. 11 during the 54th Junior Girls’ Four-State Championship on Thursday at Elmwood Country Club in Marshalltown. Henson and teammate Katelyn Vaassen of Dubuque Wahlert lost their foursome match to Nebraska’s Karsen Morrison and Emily Krzyzanowski, 3 and 1.

Wins on 12 and 13 for the Iowa duo prolonged the match, but a birdie on 14 was good for Morrison and Krzyzanowski to take a 3 & 1 victory.

Through 12 matches, Nebraska leads the way with 5 1/2 points — followed closely by Missouri with 4 1/2. Kansas sits third with 1 1/2 points and Iowa only has the 1/2 point earned by Henson and Holmberg in the morning session.

Up next for Henson is a singles match against Ella Overstreet of Missouri. Overstreet has a 1-1-0 record through two matches. Henson tees off at 8:10 a.m. Friday and spoke of her excitement for the chance to go one-on-one with an opponent.

“I’m really excited for the singles matches,” Henson said. “I know the course very well compared to the other girls, they’ve only played it once or twice.”