Box Score

Owensboro, Ky.- The 19^th-ranked UW-Parkside women's basketball team  kept its hold on first place in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Eastern Division with a tough 83-69 victory over Kentucky Wesleyan on Saturday afternoon. The Rangers avenged a one-point home loss to the Panthers back in December as they improved to 12-3 in the league and 19-4 overall.
 
Jadee Rooney led the way with a season-high 29 points as well as a career-high eight rebounds and four assists. Brittany Beyer finished with 20 points while Jenna Endisch came up big off the bench scoring 17. Danielle Slivka came off the bench to grab six boards and Kaitlyn Bettiga finished the day with five assists and no turnovers.
 
Similar to the team's first meeting, the Rangers held a double digit lead for most of the first half topping out at 39-25 with three minutes remaining. Rooney was a big reason scoring 16 points in the opening stanza. Beyer had eight and Amy Selk seven. It was Beyer's lay-up on a feed from Kaitlyn Bettiga that opened up the 14-point lead.
 
They used a 7-0 run to break open a four point-game and push the lead to 24-13. Rooney drilled a pull-up in the lane and followed with a three in transition to cap the spurt. From there the lead hung around double digits for the rest of the half.
 
As they did in the first contest the Panthers fought back going on a 14-6 run to get within three with 12:34 left in regulation. After the Rangers pushed it back to six, Lauren Goffinet knocked down a three with just over ten minutes to go, cutting the lead in half.
 
But unlike the first meeting the Rangers had a definitive answer responding to the Panthers charge with a run to all but put the game away.
 
Endisch followed the Goffinet three with one of her own for a 61-55 lead. Beyer then sandwiched two baskets around a KWC hoop for a 65-57 advantage..
 
That set-up the turning point of the game as the Rangers put together a six-point possession to establish a 71-57 lead. Rooney knocked down a three and as the ball was dropping through the net, KWC's Kristen Rowe was called for an intentional foul as she threw Endisch to the floor going for the rebound.
 
Endisch made one of two free throws to go up a dozen with Parkside getting the ball back. Beyer made them pay with a basket on a nifty pass from Jaleesa Trussell cappijng a 13-2 run to seize control.
 
Kentucky Wesleyan scored five straight with 3:21 to go to trim the deficit to nine. But it was Rooney again taking control as the senior hit a driving lay-up to extend the lead to double digits. She did it one more time with 1:35 left to help seal the win.
 
The Rangers won the turnover battle on Saturday 22-16 and turned those miscues into 21 points compared to just five for KWC.  Both teams shot it well with UW-Parkside at 47.8% and the Panthers at 45.8%.
 
UW-Parkside now has three games remaining and will play their final road contest on Thursday evening with a trip to Rensselaer, Ind., for a 5:30 p.m. tip against the Pumas. The two teams locked up in a classic earlier this year at the DeSimone Gymnasium with the Rangers prevailing late, 75-71. That game can be heard online at www.gatewaysportsweb.org.