CALLAWASSIE ISLAND, S.C. – Georgetown will be aiming for its third consecutive conference title when the BIG EAST Women’s Golf Championship Presented by Jeep returns to the Callawassie Island Golf Club for the fourth year in a row.  The Championship, which will be held April 19-21, is scheduled for 54 holes over three days.
 
The BIG EAST will crown a team champion, which earns an automatic berth to the NCAA Championship.  The competition is scheduled to begin each day at 8 a.m. ET.  All rounds of the Championship, which will be played on the Dogwood and Magnolia Courses, are free and open to the public.  The following week, the BIG EAST Men’s Golf Championship also will be held at Callawassie Island April 26-28.
 
Friday’s threesomes will be determined by team and player seedings while Saturday’s and Sunday’s groupings are assembled from the previous day’s leaderboard.  Six BIG EAST schools participate in women’s golf.  Seton Hall earned the No. 1 team seed followed by Xavier, Georgetown, St. John’s, Butler and Creighton.
 
Seton Hall reached a program-best Golfstat ranking of 75 in the fall season and has remained in the top 100 for most of this year.  The Pirates won the Delaware Lady Blue Hen Invitational in the fall and the William & Mary Intercollegiate this spring.  The Hall’s current 300.39 stroke average is the lowest in the program’s nine-year history.  The Pirate duo of junior Lizzie Win and sophomore Mia Kness tied for fourth place at 230 (+14) in last year’s Championship and have been leaders for the Pirates this year.  Both have claimed individual titles and rank among the BIG EAST’s top seven in scoring average. 
 
Xavier moved up one spot to third place last year.  Mikayla Fitzpatrick has been the team leader this year.  The junior, who is the No. 1 ranked individual in the conference according to GolfStat, leads the BIG EAST with a 73.48 stroke average.  She has carded 12 rounds of par or better and has seven top-10 finishes over 10 tournaments.  Graduate transfer Lyndsey Hunnell ranks second in the conference with an average score of 74.83 and has three top-10 finishes.  Senior Mikayla Smith ranks eighth in conference with an average of 75.63 and has four top-10 finishes.  Two seasons ago, Fitzpatrick was voted BIG EAST Freshman of the Year. 
 
Georgetown has been an elite title contender in recent years.  Prior to winning the BIG EAST crown in 2018 and 2017, the Hoyas were the runner-up for three straight years (2014-16).  Last year, Georgetown entered the final round ahead by 11 strokes and won by 20 over second-place Seton Hall.  The Hoyas compiled a team score of 903 (+39).  Seton Hall finished at 923, followed by Xavier (938), Butler (946), St. John’s (952) and Creighton (993).  Georgetown senior Jacquelyn Eleey was the individual champion with a six-over-par 222.  Hoya Christina Parsells tied for second place at 229 (+13).
 
 
St. John’s will be looking to improve on last year’s fifth-place finish.  Junior Kaitleen Shee is ranked fifth in the conference individually and will push ahead with Linda Wang and Lydia Kim, the team’s only senior.  Shee and Wang have finished in the top five on four occasions this year.  The Red Storm have been in the top five in five of their nine meets.  Wang tied for seventh in last year’s Championship.    
 
Butler again will rely on Lauren Tibbets for performance and leadership.  The senior won the individual title two years ago and tied for 17th last year.  This year, she leads the Bulldogs with a 75.7 scoring average and is ranked ninth individually in the league.  Tibbets has posted six top-10 finishes in 11 events and took first place at the Butler Fall Invitational and Big Four Classic.  After Tibbets, the team is young and may play three sophomores and one freshman.
 
Creighton freshman Katie Allen has the Bluejays optimistic about their chances to move up in the standings.  Allen’s 77.8 scoring average is the program’s lowest in 15 years.  The team’s 318.0 scoring average is the best in the program in the last 15 years.  Senior Rachel Grenko recorded an ace in the fall season.
 
The BIG EAST Digital Network (BEDN) will provide coverage of the final rounds on www.bigeast.com.  Additional information on the championship courses is available at www.callawassieisland.com.
 
 
BIG EAST Team Notes
 
BUTLER
Senior Lauren Tibbets leads the Bulldogs with a 75.7 scoring average.  She has posted top-10 finishes in six of the team’s 11 events this year, including wins at the Butler Fall Invitational and the Big Four Classic.  Tibbets was the 2017 BIG EAST Championship individual titlist and earned CoSIDA Academic All-America (second team at-large division) last year. 
 
CREIGHTON
Freshman Katie Allen’s 77.8 scoring average is Creighton’s lowest in the last 15 years, 0.87 shots ahead of the mark of 78.68 by Sarah Eversman set last year.  Creighton’s 318.0 team scoring average is its best in 15 years.  Rachel Grenko nailed a hole-in-one on September 18, 2018.
 
GEORGETOWN
The Hoyas, BIG EAST champions in 2017 and 2018, are aiming for a third straight conference title.  Senior Christina Parsells, who tied for second place last year, is joined again by senior Pendleton Bogache and junior Ashley Fitzgibbons, who both tied for ninth.  This year, senior Alexa Popowitz is ranked fourth in the BIG EAST in the GolfStat listings with Parsells at No. 6.  Popowitz was the 2017 BIG EAST Golfer of the Year.
 
ST. JOHN’S
The Red Storm have finished inside the top-five in five of their nine events this season. Juniors Kaitleen Shee and Linda Wang have finished inside the top five on four different occasions. Wang earned medalist honors at the Hofstra Pride Invitational and the Brown Bear Invitational, while Shee finished first at the Lehigh Invitational.
 
SETON HALL
Seton Hall reached a program-best GolfStat ranking of 75 in the fall, and has remained in the top-100 for much of the year.  The Pirates claimed a pair of tournament victories during 2018-19, winning the Delaware Lady Blue Hen Invitational in the fall, and the William & Mary Intercollegiate this spring.  The Hall’s current 300.39 stroke average for the year is the lowest in its nine-year history.  Junior Lizzie Win and sophomore Mia Kness have claimed individual titles this year and rank amongst the BIG EAST’s top seven in scoring average.
 
XAVIER
The Musketeers rank first in the BIG EAST with an average team score of 298.74 and a versus-par of 12.37.  Xavier has three tournament victories and boasts three golfers ranked in the top-10 in the BIG EAST.  Junior Mikayla Fitzpatrick ranks first, averaging 73.48 strokes.  She also has seven top-10 finishes in 10 tournaments.  Fitzpatrick made her mark this season by taking the 18-,36-, and 54-hole individual scoring records, as well as the low individual round.  Graduate transfer Lyndsey Hunnell ranks second in the conference with an average score of 74.83 and has three top-10 finishes.  Senior Mikayla Smith ranks eighth in the conference with an average of 75.63 and has compiled four top-10 finishes.