Story by NU Athletic Communications
The Nebraska women’s golf team heads south to compete in the Texas Golf Throwdown in The Woodlands, Feb. 16-17.
The two-day, 54-hole event hosted by Sam Houston on the 6,296-yard, par-72 layout at The Woodlands Golf Club starts with a 9 a.m. (CT) shotgun start for 36 holes beginning on Monday, Feb. 16 before concluding with Tuesday’s final round at 9 a.m.
Nebraska is the lone Big Ten team in the tournament, while Cincinnati and Iowa State represent the Big 12 and Texas A&M represents the SEC in the 15-team field. Austin Peay, Eastern Kentucky, Middle Tennessee State, Montana State, Murray State, Oral Roberts, St. Thomas (Minn.), Tarleton State, Texas State and UT-Arlington join the hosts from Sam Houston in rounding out the field.
Freshmen Kaleigh Babineaux and Ailis Tribolet will play out of the top two spots in the Husker lineup after both earned top-25 finishes at the UCF Challenge to open the spring (Jan. 25-27). Babineaux, who played high school golf at Lake Travis in the Austin area, posted three consecutive rounds of even-par 72 to tie for 17th individually at 216.
Tribolet, a freshman from Chandler, Ariz., finished one stroke back of Babineaux in Orlando with a 54-hole score of 217 (+1), including back-to-back rounds of 71 (-1).
Hannah Kono, who is the only Husker to play in all 13 competitive rounds for Nebraska this season, will hold down the No. 3 spot in the lineup. The junior from Enkoping, Sweden, carries a 73.00 stroke average on the year.
Fifth-year senior Brooke Bream makes her first appearance for the Huskers in the spring after playing eight solid rounds during the fall. Bream owns NU’s No. 2 stroke average (72.75), trailing only Babineaux’s 72.73 over 11 rounds.
Redshirt junior Symran Shah from Carrollton, Texas, rounds out the Husker lineup.
Texas Golf Throwdown
Location: The Woodlands, Texas
Host: Sam Houston
Course: The Woodlands Golf Club
Par/Yardage: 72/6,296
Schedule
Monday, Feb. 16 - Rounds 1 & 2 - 9 a.m. CT (shotgun)
Tuesday, Feb. 17 - Round 3 - 9 a.m. CT (shotgun)
Participating Teams (15)
Austin Peay, Cincinnati, Eastern Kentucky, Iowa State, Middle Tennessee State, Montana State, Murray State, Nebraska, Oral Roberts, St. Thomas (Minn.), Sam Houston, Tarleton State, Texas A&M, Texas State, UT-Arlington
Nebraska Lineup (5-count-4)
1. Kaleigh Babineaux, Fr., Austin, Texas
2. Ailis Tribolet, Fr., Chandler, Arizona
3. Hannah Kono, Jr., Enkoping, Sweden
4. Brooke Bream, RSr., Phoenix, Arizona
5. Symran Shah, RJr., Carrollton, Texas
Hall Takes Reins of Husker Program as Nebraska’s Sixth Head Coach
With a proven record of helping aspiring young golfers drastically improve their games, first-year Nebraska Head Coach Breanne Hall inherits a roster filled with nine returning Huskers and one transfer who followed her from Illinois State. However, among the 12 golfers on Nebraska’s roster, nine are in either their first or second seasons as Huskers.
A three-time Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year, Hall was named the sixth head coach of the Nebraska women’s golf program on May 15, 2025 after Coach Jeanne Sutherland announced her retirement. Hall won back-to-back MVC Coach-of-the-Year honors at Illinois State in 2024 and 2025. She led the Redbirds to three NCAA Tournament appearances over the past four seasons and was also the 2022 Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year.
Hall’s 2025 Illinois State team won the Missouri Valley Conference title by 31 strokes before finishing 11th at the NCAA Columbus Regional. In 2024, Illinois State won the Missouri Valley Conference title by 12 strokes with Ali Schrock sharing the tournament title. The Redbirds went on to finish 12th at the NCAA East Lansing Regional.
The Redbirds earned their first conference title under Hall’s direction in 2022 and their first MVC title in a decade, edging Missouri State by one stroke and capping the year with a 12th-place finish at the NCAA Stillwater Regional.
During her time at Illinois State, Hall coached three MVC Golfers of the Year and 15 all-conference selections. Her teams produced the five best single-season scoring averages in school history over the past five years. Prior to taking over the top spot at Illinois State, Hall spent a season recruiting a roster before serving as the head coach for two seasons at UNC Asheville (2016-18). As the first head coach in history of the fledgling program, Hall led UNC Asheville to a pair of tournament titles in the first two seasons of the program’s existence. Her team posted a nine-stroke improvement in scoring average from year one to year two.
Hall, Huskers Add Paradis as Assistant Coach
Nebraska women’s golf head coach Breanne Hall announced the hiring of assistant coach Lory Paradis on Jan. 5, 2026. Paradis, who was a team captain as a player for Hall at Illinois State last season, served as a graduate assistant coach for the Redbirds during the 2025 fall campaign.
A PGA of Canada Professional, Paradis spent her first four college seasons as a golfer at Fresno State before helping Illinois State capture the Missouri Valley Conference title as a first-year graduate student in 2024-25. Paradis, who expects to earn her master’s degree in the psychology of sport and physical activity in May 2026, was an apprentice teaching professional at Laval-sur-le-Lac Golf Club in the summer of 2025. She previously served as a freshman coach at Foisy Golf Academie in 2023-24.
Husker All-American Kate Smith Competed on 2025 LPGA Tour
Former Husker Kate Smith-Stroh captured her LPGA Tour Card for the 2025 season by tying for 19th at the LPGA Q-Series Final Qualifying Stage in Mobile, Ala., Dec. 10, 2024.
Smith-Stroh, an All-American and Big Ten Champion for Nebraska as a fifth-year senior in 2021, put together five solid rounds in Alabama to finish with a total of 350 (-8) with rounds of 69-71-67-72-71 on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail - Magnolia Grove to secure a spot on the world’s premier women’s golf tour in 2025.
One of the best golfers in Nebraska history, Smith-Stroh competed on the Epson Tour (2022-24). During the 2023 season, she competed in 22 events and made 19 cuts, while recording four top-10 finishes. She tied for second at the Four Winds Invitational. She added 19 events while making 13 cuts in 2024, including two more top-10 finishes.
She was ranked 33rd in the Race for the Card entering Q-Series Final Qualifying.
Smith-Stroh earned nearly $116,000 in her first season on the LPGA Tour, including her first career top-10 finish at the Dow Championship in late June. Her tie for 10th at 265 (-15) over four rounds earned her just over $35,000. She added a tie for 18th at 276 (-12) at The Standard Portland Classic in mid-August to take home more than $25,000. She opened October with a tie for 42nd at the Lotte Championship at Hoakalei Country Club (Oct. 1-4), before closing in a tie for 65th at The ANNIKA (Nov. 10-13). Overall, she made eight cuts in 17 events.
Huskers Participate in Folds of Honor
Nebraska women’s golf is a proud participant in the Folds of Honor program, which recognizes fallen or disabled American service members and first responders by carrying a bag tag emblazoned with the number of Folds of Honor recipients who have attended Nebraska.
To donate to the Folds of Honor program at Nebraska, visit https://foh.org/nebraskawomensgolf.