After a tough first round of the Alabama Women’s Stroke Play Championship, Athens’ Ally Williams showed more of what she is capable with a solid second round Thursday at Canebrake Club in Athens.

Williams, a rising senior at Athens High School, shot a 1-under-par 71 to move into a tie for 10th place in the tournament, which will conclude with today’s third round. Williams is 4-over 148 overall after shooting a 5-over 77 in Wednesday’s first round.

Huntsville’s Michaela Morard continues to lead the tournament by a large margin, as she posted a 6-under 66 to increase her lead to six shots. Morard is a 14-under through two rounds, while Hoover’s Mychael O’Berry is at 9-under. No other golfer is better than 3-under, and only seven golfers are under par through two rounds.

After not making a birdie in the first round, Williams had four birdies in the second round, including birdies on the final two holes of the round. But her round began poorly, with bogeys on the fourth and fifth holes.

She recovered to birdie the seventh hole before another bogey on the 11th pushed her back to 7-over par. She then found her groove in the final six holes, scoring birdies on the 12th, 17th, and 18th holes.

“I didn’t have the best start to my round, and was pretty frustrated early because I had a three-putt on four,” Williams said. “I finally made a birdie on seven, and although I bogeyed one more down the stretch, I was able to get some birdies.”

Williams said her ball-striking was very good Thursday, and if she kept hitting them close enough to the pin, the putts would eventually start dropping.

“I knew those putts were going to drop if I kept hitting them close, and finishing birdie, birdie helped a lot,” she said. “I hit it a foot from the hole on 17, and that helped out a bunch.”

While finishing the round with two birdies was a positive, Williams said she needs to do much better on the front nine in order to post a good score.

“I want to start making birdies early in the round, so I can get in the red (numbers) early and then get that going through the whole round,” she said.

Knowing her chances at victory were shot after the first round, Williams set another goal for herself, and that goal is still within reach in today’s final round. Williams will tee off at 9:10 a.m. with playing partners Caroline Waldrop of Birmingham and Hartselle’s Mikayla Dubnik.

“After the first round, me and my swing coach talked about it, and my goal is to get back to even par for the whole tournament,” Williams said. “I was 5-over after the first round and got one of those back (Thursday), so I just have to shoot 4-under (Friday). It’s a doable score.”