Box Score

It was simply unfathomable. In a previous meeting in Somers between the UW-Parkside women's basketball team and Indianapolis, the visiting Greyhounds won easily, by 23 points. At Indianapolis Saturday afternoon, the Greyhounds were ahead by 21 points with a few ticks more than 10 minutes left in the game. What would happen in the last 10 minutes would be unbelievable, beyond reason and heart-pounding.

The Rangers went on a 31-4 tear, starting with 10:17 to go in the game and somehow pulled out a shocking 62-57 victory over Eastern Division leading Indianapolis, which now falls into a three-way tie for the top spot.

(GLVC standings: http://www.glvcsports.org/sport.asp?path=wbball)

The rally became even more unlikely because UW-Parkside's leading scorer for the season, Kayla Ming, was on the bench. She was on the pines because she was limited to five points in the game and was 0-8 from the floor. However, her teammates picked her up in a big way, as she has done for them on numerous occasions.

Trailing 50-29, the Rangers went to work. Amanda Gibson had 16 of the 31 points in the 31-4 run. She started it all with a seemingly harmless three-pointer which cut it to 19. Gibson finished the run with a pair of three-pointers, giving the Rangers a 55-54 lead with 2:03 to go in the game.

Gibson hit three foul shots in the final 1:02 of the contest. #Allison Smaglik was 4-4 at the line in the final 12 seconds and the Rangers had secured their mind-numbing victory.

"This is one of the best victories that I have ever had as coach," UW-Parkside head coach Jenny Kenesie told WRJN radio after the game. "I'm just so proud of all of the players for the way they hung in there and kept battling."

UW-Parkside shot just 22 percent in the first half and trailed, 32-21. Indianapolis poured it on early in the second half, scoring the first six points and 12 of the first 16 to pull away.

The Rangers shot an even 50 percent in the second half, thanks to the surge in the last 10 minutes. This, after a 22 percent output in the first 20 minutes.

Indianapolis owned the boards, out-rebounding their guests, 44-31. The home team pulled down 21 offensive rebounds.

Gibson scored a game-high 24 points. She was 6-13 from the floor including a 3-5 effort from behind the arc. She was 9-11 at the free throw line. Gibson, who played all 40 minutes, dished out six assists and pulled down five rebounds. The point-guard had only two turnovers.

Smaglik was the only other Ranger in double figures with 10.

Karla Mast led a shell-shocked Indianapolis group with 16 points.

The win gets the Rangers a little closer to clinching a spot in the Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament. The team is one full game ahead of Lewis and SIU Edwardsville. Two of the three teams (UW-P, LU and SIU-E) will participate in post-season play, while the other will call it a season.

Only two games remain. The Rangers will host Northern Kentucky, Thursday, Feb. 28, at 5:30 p.m. and will close the regular season hosting Bellarmine Saturday, March, 1 at 1:00 p.m.