STARKVILLE — Ginger Brown-Lemm had done the math and had a few destinations in mind.
Mississippi State’s women’s golf coach knew her team, ranked No. 12 in the country, would receive a favorable draw in the upcoming NCAA Championships, so when her team’s destination was announced, Brown-Lemm let out a celebratory yell and pumped her fist.
“I had a feeling we were either going to be sent to Utah or North Carolina,” said Brown-Lemm, who watched the live broadcast of the tournament selection show at Starkville’s Buffalo Wild Wings with her players. “When I saw we were going to North Carolina, I was terribly excited. This team has a lot of great memories of North Carolina, and we are thrilled to be heading there.”
MSU will be the No. 3 seed in the East Regional on May 7-9 at the Lonnie Pool Golf Course in Raleigh, North Carolina, home course of North Carolina State. MSU will be one of 16 teams playing in Raleigh. The top eight finishers will move on to the NCAA Championships. The field will include a number of Southeastern Conference teams, including No. 1 seed South Carolina, No. 2 seed LSU, and No. 8 seed Alabama.
“We are not surprised there will be other SEC teams,” MSU senior Ally McDonald said. “This is a brutal conference with some of the best teams in the country. We are excited about the opportunity.”
The Bulldogs are coming off a 12th-place finish at the SEC tournament in Birmingham, Alabama. Brown-Lemm said the postseason is a chance for redemption. Last season, MSU also finished 12th in the SEC tournament and went on to take third in the Central Regional in Norman, Oklahoma. The team then took sixth at the NCAA Championship.
“Sometimes when you have a bad round, you have to remember how far you have come,” said Brown-Lemm, who is in her fifth season as coach. “These ladies have matured so much on the golf course and have come together as a team every single year. I don’t look for anything but great scores coming in North Carolina.”
McDonald, a senior from Fulton, has been MSU’s best player for the past three seasons. This season, she earned victories at the Schooner Fall Classic and at the Old Waverly Invitational in West Point. MSU won the team competition at both events.
In her final days as a Bulldog, McDonald can feel the tension of a career coming to a close.
“I don’t have class anymore, so it has already become reality,” McDonald said. “I definitely can tell it’s going to be over soon, but I am excited about the opportunity in North Carolina. We have really been preparing for this, and everyone is just ready to get there and play.”
MSU enters the NCAA Regionals as the No. 3 seed in a regional for the second-straight year.
“I am excited to go to North Carolina, as it’s really one of the sites we wanted to go to the most,” Brown-Lemm said. “The weather is more consistent there, better than some of the other locations. More importantly, though, the grass is similar to what we have here in Mississippi, where as some of the other sites have grass that is completely different than what we are used to. We hope to use this at our advantage.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brandon Walker on Twitter @BWonStateBeat
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