Auburn University star and Curtis Cup team member Cydney Clanton rebounded after an off day by dialing in her iron game in the searing heat, winning two matches to advance to the quarterfinals of the 108th Women’s North & South Amateur Championship.

After capturing her opening match Wednesday without a birdie, top-seeded Clanton headed to the practice area at Pinehurst No. 2 for more than two hours to work.

Today, last year’s Women’s North & South runner-up disposed of championship medalist Christie Appleton 3 and 2 in her morning match before carding four birdies in her first 12 holes to defeat 16th-seeded Martina Gavier of Kent State 4 and 3 in her second head-to-head contest.

“I hit a lot of greens within 15 feet today, so I had a lot of short looks and I made a few putts,” said Clanton, who will take on fellow Southeastern Conference golfer Emma Lavy of Arkansas in her quarterfinal match Friday morning. “I fixed a few things and I just tried to hit one shot at a time.”

Clanton recorded three birdies on the front side to jump on top of Gavier early in their match.

“My confidence is good right now,” said Clanton, who got her second match going with a 30-foot birdie putt on the second hole.

Lavy, the 56th seed playing in 95-degree heat, ended her second match of the day with a birdie on the 22nd hole to advance over University of Florida’s Maria Piccio in the 64-player match-play bracket.

Meanwhile, Clanton’s former Auburn teammate, second-seeded Candace Schepperle of Birmingham, Ala., was ousted in the round of 32, falling behind early and then missing a 4-footer for birdie on the 16th hole that would have kept her match alive with Haley Millsap of Pace, Fla.

Schepperle managed just one birdie in her two matches en route to elimination.

“I just wasn’t able to do anything with my game,” said Schepperle, the top seed in the 2009 Women’s North & South. “I was just trying to get some consistency back in my game and it didn’t really come.”

Also losing her first match of the day Thursday was No. 3 seed Lindy Duncan in a battle of sophomores from rival Atlantic Coast Conference schools. Duncan, who attends Duke, fell behind by three holes after seven and never recovered en route to a 3 and 2 loss to Courtney Gunter of the University of North Carolina.

Madison Pressel, the younger sister of LPGA Tour player and 2004 Women’s North & South champion Morgan Pressel, lost her morning match.

Quarterfinal and semifinal matches are scheduled Friday, with a 36-hole final match slated for Saturday.