Box Score

Houghton, Mich.- On Friday the UW-Parkside Women's Basketball team made history with the school's first-ever NCAA Tournament win ... Saturday night things got even sweeter. The Rangers overcame an early 10-0 deficit, scored 33 of the game's next 47 points, and went on to a 73-62 victory over 16th-ranked Quincy University to advance to the NCAA Tournament's "Sweet 16."

"I think the biggest thing that happened today was that our kids came out with a lot of fire and a lot of intensity and they had one goal in mind and that was to get this victory and they were going to do whatever it took," said Head Coach Jenny Kenesie. "I'm really proud of these young ladies the way they came out and fought against a really good team."

The victory was the Rangers 24th of the season establishing yet another school-record. Parkside will now take on top-seeded and 3rd-ranked Michigan Tech in the Midwest Regional Final Monday night at 6:00 p.m.

"I think we're two fairly similar teams," said Kenesie. "They work extremely hard, believe in their system, and do what they do well. We have a ton or respect for Michigan Tech. (Head Coach Kim Cameron) has done just a phenomenal job with that team and we know we've got our hands full."

The Rangers and Hawks had split their previous two meetings this year with both teams winning on their own home floor. Saturday night Parkside held one of the nation's highest scoring team's to just 62 points ... 25 below their average.
 
"Quincy obviously has a lot of scoring power and a lot of different kids who can put some big numbers and we really just needed to execute our game plan," said Kenesie. "We got back in transition and we didn't allow them to get the transition baskets they're used to getting. If you want to be a good team like that you've got to slow them up and make them feel uncomfortable."

Quincy jumped out early scoring the game's first 10 points before the Rangers got on the board and started to claw back into the game. Brittany Hogen, playing with a sprained ankle that caused her to miss the second half of the opening round game, scored Parkside's first seven points and spurred a 13-2 run to take the lead.

"We really wanted to get her going quickly, said Kenesie. "We knew she was going to have a lot of emotion in this game being a senior and having just played them a month ago. We got the ball to her early, she was able to finish, and any kid ... you get them the ball and they're getting some good high-percentage shots early and making them, the confidence just builds from there."

The teams went back-and-forth before another 11-2 run gave the Rangers their biggest lead of the half at nine. Parkside eventually carried a 37-29 lead to the locker room.

Quincy got things going offensively to start the second half trimming the lead to four with 13:36 remaining. Again the Rangers answered scoring six straight points to stretch the lead back to 10. The Hawks made one more push with 6:46 to go getting the deficit down to five but an Amy Selk free throw and a big jumper by Brittany Beyer pushed the margin out to eight. The game never got closer than seven the rest of the way.

Beyer led four starters in double figures with 20 points. Hogen added 19 points and seven rebounds while Jadee Rooney put up 17 points and four assists. Amy Selk recorded her eighth double-double of the year with 10 points and 13 boards while Kaitlyn Bettiga contributed seven points, seven rebounds, six assists, and two steals.

"We're definitely a group of believers and we believe in each other," said Hogen. "We've been working together for three years straight now, all five of us (starters) all five of us and we've formed a bond.

Added Beyer, "We're just one big family. We just want it for each other. There's no individuals on this team, we're all a team and we just go after and put everything on the court with no regrets."