May 11, 2002

East Lansing, Mich. - Baylor's Melanie Hagewood shot a 5-over-par 77 in Saturday's third round of the NCAA Women's Golf Central Regional to place fourth and qualify for an individual spot in the upcoming NCAA Championship Tournament. However, the No. 32 Bears failed to earn the top-eight team finish required to advance to Nationals, shooting a third-round score of (309-318-309=936, 72 strokes over par) to place 10th in the 21-team field.

Hagewood (70-78-77=225) finished six strokes behind individual medallist Stacy Prammanasudh of Tulsa, one of two golfers with whom Hagewood was tied for first entering the final round.

An opening round team score of 309 on Thursday had the Bears in a tie for third place, but Baylor shot a second-round 318 to drop to eighth prior to today's final round at the Forest Akers Golf Course in East Lansing.

Rounding out the individual scoring for the Bears were sophomore Kelli McKandless (tied for 11th at 79-77-75=231), senior Tara Bateman (tied for 53rd at 80-82-78=240), senior Nicole Johnson (tied for 59th at 80-82-79=241) and junior Hanna-Sofia Svenningsson (tied for 86th at 86-81-81=248).

Tulsa shot a team score of 914 to take team honors, followed by Ohio State and Texas, which both tied for second with a score of 918. The other five schools advancing the the national tournament are Purdue (920), Oklahoma State (921), Michigan (929), Oklahoma (931) and Central Regional host Michigan State (932).

The Bears finished in the top five of 11 tournaments this season, including a win at the Price's Give 'Em Five in October and the 2001 Islander Fall Classic in November.