Box Score

Somers, Wis.- The UW-Parkside women's basketball team clinched the Great Lakes Valley Conference Eastern Division championship with an 86-61 victory over Lewis University on Thursday night. The Senior Night triumph gave the Rangers their 22nd regular season victory establishing a new school record. Kaitlyn Bettiga, Brittany Beyer, Jadee Rooney, and Amy Selk finished their career at the DeSimone Gymnasium with a record of 54-4.

Parkside improved to 22-4 on the year and finished the conference campaign at 15-3, equaling last year's school-best mark. It was also the Rangers ninth straight win, one short of the program record set in 2008-09. 

The Rangers will be the second seed in the GLVC Tournament and play at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 1 at the Prairie Capital Convention Center in Springfield, Ill. Their opponent is unknown with the first round of the tournament being played on Sunday afternoon.

Thursday was also the annual "Pink Game" to benefit cancer research. The money raised will be donated to the Jane Cremer Foundation of Southeastern Wisconsin.

The Rangers left little doubt in the finale jumping out to a double digit lead eight minutes into the game and never let the Flyers get back into it. The seniors also did what they've done so many times in their careers with Rooney leading the team with 17 points, four assists, and two three-pointers. Beyer was next up with 16 points.

Selk and Bettiga played their roles as well. Selk grabbed 10 rebounds and Bettiga had a game-high seven assists to just two turnovers. Junior Jaleesa Trussel had a big night as well with 16 points and four steals.

It was 10-7 with 14:14 left in the first half before the Rangers found their groove.  Trussell started an 11-0 run with five straight points and Danielle Slivka finished it with five in a row for a 21-7 lead.

Lewis was able to cut the deficit to eight on a Jess Reinhart lay-up with 9:26 left in the period. From there the Rangers took off on a 19-1 run to seize control.

The seniors did most of the damage scoring 18 of the 19 points led by Rooney's seven and six from Beyer. Her jumper with 1:54 left made it 41-15 creating the biggest advantage of the half.

Parkside put the game away scoring the first seven points of the second half to open a 50-19 lead. Baskets by Bettiga and Selk sandwiched three Beyer free throws in the first three minutes.

The Flyers got it as low as 18 in the waning minutes but Parkside scored eight of the last nine points to win by 25.
The Rangers finished the night shooting exactly 50% from the floor including a 7-for-13 (53.8%) effort from behind the arc.

They had a big advantage in the turnover battle forcing 22 Flyer miscues and turning them into 32 points. Parkside committed just 13 turnovers while out-rebounding Lewis, 37-30.

Parkside will now set its sights on the conference tournament after earning the first round bye. They will face the second highest seed remaining after Sunday's opening round.

Lewis was led in scoring by Reinhart with 15. The Flyers clinched the final GLVC Tournament spot thanks to Illinois Springfield's loss at Quincy.

Check back to parksiderangers.com for more information on the upcoming postseason. You can hear all postseason games on gatewaysportsweb.org as well as 1400 AM WRJN.