PADUCAH, Ky. – The Alabama State University women's golf team opened the 2026-27 season with a 11th-place performance at The Velvet, a two-day outing at the Country Club of Paducah hosted by Murray State University, on Monday and Tuesday.

The Hornets hung around that position for most of the tournament, although it settled in after a +32 opening round, chasing it with a +25 middle round and finishing the tournament on Tuesday morning with a +26 on the par-72, 6,030-yard course.

Freshman Cadence Nance wasted no time getting familiar with the course, opening with a one-over on the front nine, carding birdies on a par-5 fifth hole and another on a par-4 ninth. She finished the morning portion with 11 pars and a birdie on the 18th hole, a 479-yard par-5 that was the longest of the bunch. Fellow first-year Hornets Zoey Stern and Jade Scott recorded multiple birdies on the opening round, the latter of whom matched Nance for the best back half score of the six ASU golfers.

Stern and Nance came away from the back nine of the second round hitting even, while the tandem's front half scores were separated by one stroke. Nance once again came away with a trio of birdies – cashing in on the par-5 first, the par-5 11th and the par-4 16th to finish the round at +3 and her day at 7-over-151. Freshman Jennifer Cho, who had a rocky first round, settled in nicely on the second go around, picking up five pars on the front half and finishing the back half +2 for a 6-over-78 to close out the day.

Scott had a successful day on the lone round of Tuesday's competition, coming off even on seven of the first nine holes and finishing the back nine 1-under-35 after birdies on the par-5 11th, par-4 17th and par-5 18th. Stern was a steady force as well on the day, recording pars on 12 of 16 holes to wrap up the weekend with a 19-over-235.

Nance led the team's individual rankings, tying for 29th with a 15-over-231. Stern followed behind in a tie for 39th, with Scott finishing two strokes behind in 47th. Cho finished her final round with a birdie on the 329-yard, par-4 ninth hole in the final round as she finished +30 to round out the team's top quartet.

Sophomore Christiana Marcellus competed as an individual golfer, turning in a successful second round with a +9 that included a birdie on the 469-yard, par-5 11th and eight pars. She finished the outing with a +38 after securing eight pars in the final round.

Rookie Jada-Reese Pittman also took the course, sending in a birdie on the 17th hole in the evening period on Monday while finishing the final two rounds with 15 combined par-or-better performances, as she finished +43 to round out ASU's competitors.

A tight team race at the top ended up with a tied finish between West Florida and Austin Peay State, who each finished 18-over-par and had matching 2-over performances on the day to lead the 14-team field. The tandem was followed by West Georgia (+27), tournament host Murray State (+33) and North Alabama (+47) rounding out the top five. As for familiar foes, UAB finished seventh at +60, while Tennessee State finished 14th with a +136. West Florida also featured three of the top 10 finishers, including medalist Mariana Arronte, who carded sub-par numbers in the final two rounds to finish 2-under-214.

The Lady Hornets will travel north to Indiana in two weeks, where it will compete in the NKU Fall Invitational, hosted by Northern Kentucky University, on Monday, Sept. 28 and Tuesday, Sept. 29 at Belterra Golf Club in Florence, Indiana.