The Wildcats were in sixth place after two rounds but dropped to ninth after shooting a final round of 312. They finished the three-day tournament with a final score of 939.
Oklahoma State won the tournament, held in Dallas at Bear Creek golf course, beating NU by 36 strokes. Ohio State’s Mollie Fankhauser won the individual tournament with a 1-over 217.
“This is the first tournament of the spring season, and it’s always a kind of barometer of where we’ll start the season at,” NU coach Chris Regenberg said. “We weren’t far off from where we needed to be. We may have hoped for a higher finish, but we’re not disappointed.”
The Cats were led by sophomore Elizabeth Burden, who finished ninth individually with rounds of 77, 76 and 75.
“I didn’t play my best, but I didn’t play badly. I obviously still have things to work on,” Burden said.
Regenberg, however, was happy with Burden’s play at the tournament.
“I liked the performance from Elizabeth Burden,” she said. “Elizabeth is on the verge of having a string of tournaments that will be her best.”
Junior Emily Gilley was NU’s next-best finisher at 30th overall, followed by Hana Kim at 36th. The Cats’ depth and balance are among their major strengths.
“A unique feature of our team is that any person on our travel roster could be No. 1 at any time,” Regenberg said.
The team is currently ranked 14th by Golfweek, with Gilley (No. 51) and Burden (No. 97) ranked individually.
“The rankings will fluctuate, but they give a very general idea of how we stack up. We always take them with a grain of salt,” Regenberg said.
For now, the Cats are looking forward to their next tournament, The “Mo”-Morial, hosted by Texas A&M, which will be played in Houston on March 5-6.
