Lady Jaguars Open Regional Play

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Augusta State opened play in the NCAA East Regional Thursday afternoon, combining for a 23-over 311 at the Penn State Blue Course in State College, Pa.

South Carolina, ranked No. 25 in the nation by Golfstat, fashioned an even-par 288 to move out to a four-stroke lead over No. 2 Alabama. Florida is third, six shots back of the Gamecocks while No. 29 Washington, No. 32 Texas and No. 12 Texas A&M are all tied for fourth at 8-over 296.

The Lady Jaguars are tied for 18th place in the 24-team field. The top eight teams and top two individuals not on a qualifying team will advance to the NCAA Championships, slated for May 22-25 at the Vanderbilt Legends Club in Franklin, Tenn., just outside of Nashville.

"We've certainly got some work ahead of us," said first-year ASU head coach Kory Thompson. "The par 5's killed us today and those should be the holes we take advantage of. We need a nice round tomorrow and hopefully we can take advantage of playing in the morning."

Texas A&M's Katerina Ruzickova fired a 5-under 67 and grabbed a one-shot lead over Maryland's Juliet Vongphoumy. South Carolina's Justine Dreher is third following a 2-under 70 while Washington's Kelli Bowers and Alabama's are tied for fourth after a pair of 1-under 71's.

Sophomore Casey Kennedy recovered from a sluggish start to shoot 2-under over her last 12 holes and carded a 2-over 74, good for a tie for 24th. Junior Natalie Wille was even-par for her last 13 holes and turned in a 3-over 75 for a tie for 39th. Senior Kirsty Rands managed a 79, junior Marit Bjerke turned in an 83 and sophomore Christine Duschek-Hansen had the day's non-counting score (84).

ASU, the No. 19 seed, will be paired again with No. 20 seed Campbell and No. 21 Chattanooga during Friday morning's second round. Duschek-Hansen will lead off for the Lady Jags at 8:25 a.m., followed by Bjerke at 8:36, Rands at 8:47, Wille at 8:58 and Kennedy at 9:09. The NCAA regionals are contested in a three-day, 54-hole format, with 18 holes played each day.

Now in its 11th year, the ASU Women's Golf program is making its third postseason appearance since becoming eligible for postseason competition with the 2005-06 season. That year, the Lady Jags finished eighth in the NCAA East Regional at Bryan Park Golf Course in Browns Summit, N.C., and missed qualifying for the NCAA Championships by just four strokes. They also qualified in 2011 under former women's head coach and current men's head coach Kevin McPherson.

Live scoring of all three NCAA Women's Golf regionals will be available at http://www.golfstat.com/.

Penn State's tournament central page can be viewed at http://www.gopsusports.com/sports/w-golf/spec-rel/w-golf-ncaa-2012.html.

NCAA EAST REGIONAL

Penn State Blue Course
State College, Pa.
Par 72 -- 6,253 yards
Hosted by Penn State University 

Team Results

1. South Carolina.......................... 288....... E
2. Alabama.................................. 292..... +4
3. Florida.................................... 294..... +6
4. Washington.............................. 296..... +8
Texas A&M............................... 296..... +8
Texas...................................... 296..... +8
7. Tulane.................................... 298... +10
8. Oklahoma State......................... 299... +11
9. Michigan State........................... 300... +12
10. UCF....................................... 301... +13
11. Duke...................................... 302... +14
Arizona................................... 302... +14
13. Maryland................................. 303... +15
Arizona State............................ 303... +15
15. Wake Forest.............................. 304... +16
16. Northwestern............................ 305... +17
17. Kent State................................ 306... +18
18. AUGUSTA STATE....................... 311... +23
San Diego State......................... 311... +23
Chattanooga............................. 311... +23
21. Campbell................................. 313... +25
22. Jacksonville State........................ 314... +26
23. Long Island............................... 324... +36
24. Oral Roberts............................. 327... +39

Augusta State Individual Results

t24. Casey Kennedy......................... 74..... +2
t39. Natalie Wille............................ 75..... +3
t89. Kirsty Rands............................. 79..... +7
t113. Marit Bjerke............................. 83... +11
t116. Christine Duschek-Hansen............ 84... +12

Top 10 Individual Results

1. Katerina Ruzickova, Texas A&M..... 67...... -5
2. Juliet Vongphoumy, Maryland....... 70...... -2
3. Justine Dreher, South Carolina....... 70...... -2
4. Kelli Bowers, Washington............ 71...... -1
Jennifer Kirby, Alabama............... 71...... -1
6. Jennifer Yang, Washington........... 72....... E
Jayde Panos, Oklahoma State........ 72....... E
Gemma Dryburgh, Tulane........... 72....... E
Katie Burnett, South Carolina........ 72....... E
Nicole Vandermade, Texas........... 72....... E
Maribel Lopez-Porras, Tulane........ 72....... E
Kelly Shon, Princeton................. 72....... E
Andrea Watts Florida.................. 72....... E
Hannah Collier, Alabama............. 72....... E
Evan Jensen Florida.................... 72....... E
Monifa Sealy, UCF..................... 72....... E