BARTLESVILLE, Okla. - For the fourth time in Great American Conference history, the league qualified two women's golf teams to the NCAA Division II National Championships as Henderson State overtook Southwestern Oklahoma State to capture the team title. The Bulldogs took second. Individually, Arkansas Tech's Ellen Spigner finished as the runner up to advance to nationals as an individual.
And for the second year in a row, the Reddies used a furious final round to win the Central Region Title. With a 4-over 292 final round, No. 13 HSU completed the region championship three-peat with a 54-hole score of 30-over 894.
Coming into the round trailing four strokes, Henderson State caught SWOSU at 29-over through the front nine. The Reddies turned it on at the turn, racing out to a five-stroke lead before hole 14. Of HSU's four contributing scorers, eight birdies were tallied from the ninth hole to the 13th.
Lily Nelson and Daphney Tilton were the main catalysts for the comeback as the duo recorded six birdies over that stretch. With the big push from Nelson and Tilton, the Reddies were able to hold off SWOSU before posting the six-stroke victory to bring the third consecutive Central Region Championship to Arkadelphia.
Nelson paced Henderson on the final day with a 3-under 69 in the final round, tying the course record set by teammate Allie Bianchi last semester at the Central Region Preview. Nelson, playing in just her fourth event of the 2023-24 season and her first regional championships, finished the final round with six birdies.
Full Henderson State Release
SWOSU secured a spot at the national tournament for the third time in program history. SWOSU entered Wednesday's third and final round with a four-stroke lead. Two Lady Bulldogs finished inside the top-5 – Rebecca Lau in fourth and Freya Sala who tied for fifth.
Lau was tied for the lead after the first round after she shot an even-par 72 on Monday. She added two strokes to her second round and two more in her final round and was +6 in the tournament. She birdied nine times in three rounds – the fourth most in the entire field.
Sala climbed the leaderboard from 19th all the way to fifth by tournament's end after shooting a 78 in her opening round. She carded a two-over 74 in round two before firing a one-under 71 in the final round – SWOSU's lowest day three score of any golfer. Sala faced 12 total par-5s in the tournament and performed the best out of the entire field in those holes at three-under par.
Full Southwestern Oklahoma State Release
Tech sophomore Ellen Spigner closed out the 2024 NCAA Division II Women's Golf Central Region Tournament with a one-under (71) to finish that event runner-up, She will move on to the DII Women's Golf National Championship Tournament where she will participate as an individual.
Spigner is now the fourth Golden Suns golfer to qualify for the National Championships as an individual and the first since Jaqueline Klemm did so in 2022.
A native of Nashville, Arkansas, Spigner improved yet again at the regional and climbed two more spots on the individual leaderboard where she finished runner-up. After an opening round 76 (+4), Spigner shot even-par in round two on Tuesday and then shot a one-under (71) on Wednesday to solidify her spot of advancing to the national championship.
Full Arkansas Tech Release
Oklahoma Baptist's. Morgan Becker closed the Central Region Championship with a 1-over 73 to finish ninth of 51 participants. Becker shot 8-over par for the event. Her finish represents the second-best finish at the regional in OBU history and nearly topped her sixth-place finish a season ago.
The sophomore posted back-to-back 1-under par rounds for the third time this season to claim her top-10 placing. Becker's last go-around boosted her 11 spots of the leaderboards after she sat in ninth after 36 holes of action.
Becker sunk eight birdies and turned in a tie of the ninth-best stroke average (4.20) on par-4 scoring in the tournament.
Full Oklahoma Baptist Release
The Harding women's golf team put together the best round in program history at an NCAA DII Regional, shooting a 16-over 304 in Round 3 of the NCAA DII Central Regional in Bartlesville, Oklahoma on Tuesday. The Lady Bisons finished the tournament in fifth, tied for the best finish in program history, at 65-over 929.
Sydney Kincade posted her best round of her career, shooting a 3-under 69 in Round 3 and finishing tied for 11th at 10-over 226. Kincade's 3-under 69 is the second-best round ever in program history. Kincade was also the first Lady Bison to ever shoot under 70 in an NCAA Regional tournament. Kincade's round included six birdies.
Alicia Martinez also finished tied for 11th at 10-over 226 after a 1-over 73 in Round 3. Kincade and Martinez's tournament score of 10-over 226 is tied for the third-best 54-hole tournament score in program history. Kodie Winnings finished at 21-over 237 and tied for 29th. Brenda Sanchez finished tied for 38th at 25-over 241. Madeleine Wilson finished 45th at 30-over 246.
Full Harding Release