FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mark Albanese, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Media Relations

Official 2015 GLVC Tournament Page
 
GLVC Tournament Bracket

SOMERS, Wis. (Mar. 5, 2015)-- The University of Wisconsin-Parkside women's basketball embarks on postseason play after a one-year hiatus, traveling to the Saint Charles, Missouri, for the 2015 Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament.
 
The fourth-seeded Rangers open up the GLVC Tournament Quarterfinals on Friday against fifth-seeded Quincy University. Tipoff inside Family Arena is slated for 12 p.m. Friday's winner will play again on Saturday at 6 p.m. with the Championship Game slated for 3:30 p.m. on Sunday. Live stats, video, and audio will be provided with Mark Albanese, Steve Kratochvil, and Jim Kramer on the audio feed available online and on local airwaves on WRJN 1400 AM in southeast Wisconsin.
 
About the Rangers: UW-Parkside (21-6, 14-4 GLVC) capped off the regular season on Feb. 26, falling 60-46 to second-ranked Lewis University inside DeSimone Gymnasium. The Rangers held the Flyers to a season low point total but were plagued with one of their worst shooting nights of the season, hitting just 20.5 percent (nine-for-44) of shots in the second half.
 
Parkside sat tied 24-24 with Lewis after a Sarah Mlachnik three with 3:19 remaining in the opening half but the GLVC East Champion Flyers tallied 21 of the next 24 points and never looked back, claiming the 14-point victory.
 
Gaby Bronson scored 11 points to lead the Rangers while Stephanie Furr added 10. Mlachnik grabbed a team-best 10 rebounds while nabbing three steals.
 
Prior to the Lewis loss, UW-Parkside had won 14 of its previous 15 games. The Rangers' run began with a 55-54 nail-biting win over Quincy University on Jan. 4, erasing an early 13-point deficit. UW-Parkside rolled off a program record 12 straight wins before falling to GLVC West Division Champion Drury 69-67 on Feb. 14. The Rangers rebounded from the loss the following week, claiming blowout wins on the road at the expense of McKendree University (69-57) and University of Illinois Springfield (70-45).
 
First Team All-GLVC selection Gaby Bronson leads the Rangers in scoring (12.4 points per game), rebounding (5.3 per game) and assists (4.7 per game), while sitting 27 points shy of eclipsing the 1,000-point barrier for her career. Kristin Conniff has drained a team-leading 40 treys on the season, averaging 10.0 ppg while Tara Knapstein adds 9.2 ppg and 3.7 rpg off the bench. Stephanie Furr contributes 7.5 ppg while Brittney Fair is a spark off the bench with 6.0 ppg and sits tied for the team lead in steals with GLVC All-Defensive Team selection Sarah Mlachnik at 39.
 
One of the nation's stingiest team's defensively, UW-Parkside leads the GLVc and ranks 13th nationally (out of 300) in scoring defense, yielding a paltry 57.2 points per game. The Rangers additionally lead the league and sit 24th nationally in three-point field goal defense (27.5 percent) and sit second in the GLVC and 21st nationwide in rebounding margin at +7.2.
 
Mar. 6 vs. Quincy University at Family Arena (Live Stats)(Video)(Audio)
 
Series History: The Rangers and Hawks have met 38 times with UW-Parkside enjoying a 21-17 edge in the all-time series. The two squads last met on Jan. 4 in Quincy, Illinois with the visiting Rangers emerging with a 55-54 victory. The Hawks tallied the opening 13 points of the game and enjoyed a 32-25 lead at the half but the Rangers battled back. Stephanie Furr converted a layup with six seconds left for what turned out to be the game-winner, giving Parkside the first of 12 consecutive victories.
 
About the Hawks: Fifth-seeded Quincy (16-11, 10-8 GLVC) heads to Saint Charles and the GLVC Quarterfinals riding a three-game win streak. QU's good fortunes began on Feb. 21, blowing out Maryville University 82-62 inside Pepsi Arena to snap a three-game slide. The Hawks closed out the regular season with a 63-51 win over travel partner Truman State University before opening GLVC Tournament action on Sunday with a 52-49 win over 12th-seeded Saint Joseph's College.
 
Quincy led the majority of the first half against SJC, owning a 29-24 edge at the halftime intermission. The Hawks' lead reached double digits early in the second half before the Pumas utilized a 13-2 run to reclaim the lead. Saint Joseph's led by four points with just over five minutes remaining and was nursing a 49-48 lead with 1:54 left in the contest before committing two turnovers in the final minute as Quincy scored the final four points to escape with the win.
 
Kara Gerbus led Quincy with 13 points while Tori Kuhn and Maggie Cunningham each added 11 apiece.
 
Carly Bettencourt paces Quincy, averaging 10.0 points per game while dishing out 3.5 assists per game and grabbing 4.0 rebounds per game. Cunningham averages just under 10 a game, contributing 9.4 ppg along with 3.4 apg and a team-high 42 steals. Anika Webster adds 9.1 ppg and 4.5 rpg while Erin Mennemeyer adds 8.7 ppg and a team-high 5.7 rpg.
 
QU ranks as one of the conference's top teams in several statistical categories, leading the GLVC in three-pointers made with 205 on the season (7.59 per game) and ranking third in the GLVC in scoring (71.2 points per game), field goal percentage (43.3 percent), three-point field goal percentage (37.8 percent), and assists (14.78 per game).
 
All-GLVC: The conference office released its postseason award winners on March 4 with Gaby Bronson and Sarah Mlachnik both getting honored by the GLVC. Bronson earned All-GLVC accolades for the second consecutive season, securing a spot on the 10-player First Team while Mlachnik earned a spot on the 10-player GLVC All-Defensive Team.
 
Ticket Info: All-Tournament passes, which are good for all seven sessions, will be $38. A single-session ticket will be $18 for adults and seniors, and $11 for students with a valid ID. Children ages 6 and under are free.
 
Rest of the Tournament: The winner of Friday's Parkside-Quincy game will face the winner of the 2:30 p.m. game that features top-seeded Drury University against eighth-seeded University of Indianapolis. On the other side of the bracket, second-seeded Lewis faces seventh-seeded Maryville at 6 p.m. while third-seeded University of Southern Indiana and sixth-seeded University of Missouri-Saint Louis close out the quarterfinals at 8:30 p.m.
 
The GLVC semifinal round begins on Saturday at 6 p.m. with semifinal number two getting underway at 8:30 p.m. while the championship game is slated for 3:30 p.m. on Sunday.
 
Tournament Rewind: This is the third time in the last four years the Rangers will be making the trip to the GLVC Tournament and the 11th time since the tournament began in 1998. The Rangers were bounced in the GLVC Quarterfinals in both 2011 and 2012 while advancing to the GLVC Semifinals in 2013 before falling to rival Lewis University 61-59 inside the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana. UW-Parkside got the last laugh, however, defeating Lewis 59-49 just six days later in the NCAA Tournament.
 
Overall, the Rangers own a 5-10 mark at the GLVC Tournament, including advancing to the GLVC Championship Game in 2010 in Springfield, Illinois, where UW-Parkside fell 68-63 to Drury University.
 
Streaks: The Rangers 12 game win streak this season was the team's longest stretch of wins in program history, eclipsing a 10 game run during the 2008-2009 campaign from Dec. 4 through Jan. 10. UW-Parkside went 43 days between losses during the 12-game streak which began on Jan. 4 with a come-from-behind win over Quincy University.
 
Bench Buckets: UW-Parkside has generated points off the bench all season with the reserves outscoring the starters eight times this season. The Ranger reserves netted 39 of the team's 69 points on Nov. 20 in a 10-point win over Ohio Dominican University while the backups poured on 41 points in a 60-42 win over Tiffin University on Nov. 22. Parkside's bench collected 36 of the team's 61 points on Dec. 4 against Lewis University and 35 points in a 60-41 win over the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras on Dec. 16. Parkside's non-starters tallied 36 points in a 71-48 rout of the University of Illinois Springfield on Jan. 15 while pouring on 37 in a 70-52 drubbing of the University of Southern Indiana on Jan. 22.
 
The bench laid on 47 points in a 73-53 victory over Missouri University S&T on Feb. 12 before scoring 34 in a 69-67 setback to then No. 17 Drury University two days later.

20-Win Club: UW-Parkside defeated McKendree University on Feb. 19 to secure the program's fifth 20-win campaign over the past six seasons. The Rangers have six total 20 win seasons in program history with all of them coming since 2004, including six under the direction of former Head Coach Jenny Knight-Kenesie (2002-2013).
 
27-for-27: Gaby Bronson and Sarah Mlachnik are the only two Rangers to start every game this season. The duo additionally leads the team in minutes played with Bronson averaging 29.0 minutes per game while Mlachnik averages 26.7 minutes per game. A Total of six Rangers have appeared in every game this season, joining Bronson and Mlachnik on that list is Kristin Conniff, Tara Knapstein, Brittney Fair, and Jessica Prince.
 
March Madness: The NCAA selection committee will unveil the 64-team NCAA Division II Tournament bracket on Sunday at 9 p.m. live on NCAA.com. The Rangers have qualified for the NCAA Tournament five times in program history (2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2005), including two trips to the Sweet 16 (2011 and 2012) and owns a 5-5 record at the Big Dance.

GLVC Accolades: Gaby Bronson was named the GLVC Player of the Week on Nov. 17 for her performance at the Highway 76 Classic where the senior earned Co-MVP honors after notching a triple-double and averaging 19.5 points per game, 8.0 assists per game and 7.5 rebounds per game.
 
Bronson became the first Ranger to win the award since Jenna Endisch did so on Dec. 20, 2012.
 
Pod-demonium: The GLVC continues its pod system for the 2014-2015, retaining the setup of two divisions with two pods of four. Pod mates will play each other in a home and home series and play all other opponents once. UW-Parkside's pod includes University of Illinois Springfield, McKendree University and Lewis University.
 
Preseason Prognostications: UW-Parkside is picked to finish fifth in the GLVC East in 2014-2015 according to the league's 16 head coaches.
 
The Rangers accumulated 60 points and one first place nod to secure fifth. Lewis University collected 13 of the 16 first place votes, snagging the top spot in the East with 118 points. The University of Indianapolis and the University of Southern Indiana each grabbed a first place vote, placing second and third in the poll, respectively. Bellarmine University rounds out the upper half of the division, slotting fourth with 74 points. Saint Joseph's College was picked sixth (53 points) followed by the University of Illinois Springfield in seventh (38 points) and McKendree University in eighth (30 points).
 
In the West Division, Drury University scooped up 12 of the 16 first place endorsements, claiming the top spot with 115 points. Quincy University is second with 94 points and one first place vote followed by Maryville University with 93 points and one first place vote. Truman State University grabbed two first place votes and 89 points to secure fourth while the University of Missouri-Saint Louis is fifth with 64 points. William Jewell College is sixth (47 points) followed by Missouri University S&T in seventh (40 points) and Rockhurst University in eighth (26 points).
 
Home Sweet Home: The Rangers have been nearly unbeatable at home in recent years, winning 73 of their last 86 games inside DeSimone Gymnasium. UW-Parkside was 12-4 at home in 2007-08, 10-2 in 2008-09 while finishing 15-1 in 2009-10, 15-0 in 2010-11, 14-1 in 2011-12, 11-3 in 2012-13, 7-7 last season and finished 2014-2015 with a 7-2 mark inside DeSimone.
 
Return to DeSimone: After going 320 days without a home game and opening the season with a 15-game, 7,261-mile road swing, the Rangers played four home contests in a 10-game span from Jan. 8 through Jan. 17. UW-Parkside made the most of those games, steamrolling all four opponents with an average margin of victory at +20.5.
 
This season's opening 15-game swing covered 7,261 miles and toured seven different states along with the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The two-month long road odyssey saw the Rangers play games in Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio, Iowa, Michigan, Illinois (again), Puerto Rico, Ohio (again) and Missouri.
 
Island Adventures: On top of playing three games in three days the UW-Parkside women's basketball squad was also able to soak in a few sights in Puerto Rico during their nearly week long stay from Dec. 15-21. The Rangers toured Castillo San Cristobal, the largest fortification built by the Spanish in the Americas while walking the cobblestone streets of Old San Juan. The team additionally traveled to rural Fajardo where they kayaked a lagoon featuring rare bioluminescent life forms and soaked in some sun on the beaches of San Juan.
 
The Yorg File: Head Coach Jacob Yorg became the program's sixth coach prior to the 2013-2014 season, replacing the program's winningest coach in Jenny Knight-Kenesie. Yorg is no stranger to the GLVC having served as the associate head coach at Maryville University from 2008-2013. Maryville posted a 76-64 record in that span, winning a GLVC Tournament Championship and a GLVC West Division crown. Yorg's two-year record at Parkside currently stands at 29-24.
 
Joining Yorg on the bench this season will be former Ranger student-athlete Danielle Slivka along with Oliver Wiseman and Dean Mlachnik.