STARKVILLE, Miss. (WTVA/MSU Athletics) – The Mississippi State women’s golf team earned its ninth overall bid to the NCAA Women's Golf Championships highlighted by its fourth trip under head coach Ginger Brown-Lemm, on Wednesday as all four regions were revealed live on the Golf Channel.
The Bulldogs were selected to the NCAA Norman Regional in Norman, Oklahoma, hosted by the Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club with teams playing May 6-8. Six teams and three individuals will advance from each regional to the NCAA Championships on May 17-22 at Blessings Golf Course in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
“The fields are always incredibly challenging, and they’re supposed to be,” Brown-Lemm said. “It’s the first round of the national championship. Oklahoma has been so good to us over the years. We had great expectations going into Norman a couple of years ago, and they paid off as we advanced to the national championship. We expect the same results.”
Sophomore Aubree Jones will compete in her first regional as a Bulldog. She heads into regional play after a 13th place finish in the SEC Championship.
“This is my first regional, and it’s super exciting for me to be able to experience this,” Jones said. “We’ve put in the work, and it’s exciting to see it pay off.”
The NCAA Norman Regional field includes six top 25 programs in No. 3 Wake Forest, No. 5 Texas, No. 10 Florida, No. 14 Arizona State, No. 21 Oklahoma and No. 22 TCU. MSU also is joined in the 18-team field by Fairleigh Dickinson, North Carolina State, Ole Miss, Pepperdine, Purdue, Sam Houston State, Texas A&M, Texas-San Antonio, Texas Tech, UNC Wilmington and Virginia Tech.
State enters the regional coming off its first trip to the quarterfinals at the SEC Championships last week.
The Bulldogs’ last postseason team appearance was at the 2015 NCAA Raleigh Regional where MSU placed 12th. MSU advanced out of the 2014 NCAA Central Regional hosted by Oklahoma State and punched its ticket to the NCAA Championships where they captured a sixth place finish.