Alabama leads Women's NCAA Championship

• By Ryan Ballengee
• May 23, 2012 8:53 PM ET

Alabama expanded its lead in the second round of the NCAA Division I Women's Golf Championship. 

The Crimson Tide's advantage ballooned from two shots to 11 after Wednesday play at the Vanderbilt Legends Club in Franklin, Tenn.

"The idea is to stay consistent," Alabama coach Mic Potter said. "I think we've had one double bogey in 36 holes, so avoiding big mistakes and taking the birdies where they present themselves is the key. We did a pretty good job."

The four lowest scores of the five starting players for each team are used to create a composite score for the round. Three of Alabama's five players broke par in the second round. Adding in the 1-over round of Stephanie Meadow, the second seed shot 3-under 285 to reach 5 under par. 

Virginia, North Carolina and UCLA all share second place at 6 over through 36 of 72 holes.

South Carolina posted the score of the day with a team total of 7-under 281 to tie Arizona State for fifth place at 7 over par.

Host Vanderbilt was the only other team out of 24 to break par on Wednesday, shooting 4 under to pull into 10th place, 19 shots behind Alabama.

Brooke Pancake, an Alabama senior and 2012 Curtis Cup team member, leads the individual competition. Her round of 2-under 70 has her at 6 under, leading by two shots over Arizona State's Giulia Molinaro. 

Comfort with the flat stick has propelled Pancake to the lead.

"When I get comfortable over my putts, it doesn't matter how well I'm hitting it or not I have that confidence that I can get up and down," she said. "If I have a bad hole, I'm like, 'OK, there's more birdies out there.' That's what I've been trying to kind of stick to the last two days, and hopefully for the next two days because this is a long tournament."

First-round leader Portland Rosen of Virginia shot 75 in the second round to fall into a tie for third with Katie Burnett of South Carolina and Brittany Marchand of North Carolina State.