The Lee women's golf team will be shooting for its third straight Gulf South Conference championship when the three-day event is staged Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday on the Robert Trent Jones Magnolia Grove- Falls Course in Mobile, Alabama.
 
The Lady Flames won the championship in 2018 and 2019, but last year's event was cancelled when the NCAA halted all spring play due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Director of Lee golf John Maupin and women's assistant coach Jessica Shepley have placed the team in four highly competitive spring tournaments in getting prepared for the upcoming conference and region action. The Lee women will be hosting the NCAA DII South Super Region at the Cleveland Country Club May 3-5.
 
"Last week was actually the first tournament that we got to compete against all the teams in the conference, or at least it was the first time that we saw some of them," explained Maupin. It was a very tightly contested tournament, and I think the experience of pulling out the victory will be very important heading into the conference championship.  West Georgia (25th) and West Florida (24th) are ranked in the Top 25, along with us at 16^th. We know it is going to be very competitive this week.
 
"Nine teams and three individuals qualify for regional. Each conference winner gets a spot and then there are four at-large spots. Each individual chosen is an at large bid. Our women have won the last two GSC Championships (2018,2019), but we have not had any medalists.  Haverly Harrold finished runner up on two occasions and Emily Felix finished in the top 5 overall in 2019," added Maupin.
 
The Lady Flames are fresh off winning the Argonaut Invitational in Gulf Breeze, Florida and will take five golfers to Mobile. The lineup includes sophomore Supuschaya Srichantamit, junior Emily Felix, freshman Emily Ritchie, freshman Emma Pittman, and junior Carson McKie.
 
The veteran coach also commented on all five of his players: "Supuschaya has been a consistent force for us this season and is really just hitting her stride.  She has led the way for us all year and is a very strong player. Emily Felix had surgery early in the spring but is fully healthy now. She is an impact player for us, really rounding into form, and has played better with each tournament. Emily Ritchie is one of the standout freshmen in our conference and has really provided our team with a spark this semester. Pittman is another strong freshman who has contributed a lot of rounds to our team this season.  We have a lot of confidence in Emma, and it just feels like she is about to hit a great stretch of golf. Carson has been an impact player for us since she has been here and is a multiple-time All-Conference selection.  She can really move the needle for our team when she gets it going."