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

SOMERS, Wis. (Dec. 6, 2013)-- The University of Wisconsin-Parkside women's basketball team faces its third straight NAIA opponent on Saturday, taking on Indiana University-Northwest inside DeSimone Gymnasium.

Saturday's clash will count as a regular season contest for the Rangers but will be considered an exhibition for the visiting RedHawks. The game is slated to tipoff at 1 p.m. inside DeSimone Gymnasium. Live stats, video and audio will be available for both games with Eric Zizich providing the play-by-play and Kyle Jacob adding color commentary. Saturday's game is Fall Sports Day and during media timeouts and halftime the Rangers will be honoring the accomplishments of men's and women's cross country, men's and women's soccer and volleyball.

Series History: The Rangers and RedHawks have met four times with UW-Parkside winning all four encounters. The two squads last met on Dec. 30, 2012 with the host Rangers earning an 89-52 victory. The Rangers led by 23 points at the half in the blowout victory with Gaby Bronson leading all Ranger scorers with 16 points.

About the Rangers: UW-Parkside (3-3) looks to close its three-game homestand on a positive note after falling 70-60 on Sunday to Cardinal Stritch University. Sunday's loss was the first setback of the season for the Rangers inside DeSimone Gymnasium, having won their previous three games in Somers, Wis.

Against NAIA Division II 15th-ranked Stritch, the visiting Wolves scored five straight points to break a 7-7 deadlock midway through the first half and never trailed the rest of the way, leading by as many as 14-points in the first 20 minutes and enjoying a 36-28 buffer at the break.

UW-Parkside chipped away at the deficit in the second half, closing to within three points on two occasions, including with 3:17 left but the Wolves answered the call each time, sending UW-P a 10-point home loss.

Tara Knapstein hit four three-pointers in the game, finishing with 16 points while Maddie Johnston canned four treys and ended the afternoon with 14 points and eight rebounds.

Four Rangers enter Saturday's showdown averaging double digits with Bronson leading the way averaging 13.0 points per game while grabbing 5.8 rebounds per game and dishing out 4.7 assists per game. Danielle Slivka averages 11.0 ppg and 4.7 rpg while Knapstein chips in 10.8 ppg and 4.5 rpg. Johnston is the fourth Ranger averaging in double figures, dropping 10.5 ppg.

About the RedHawks: Indiana-Northwest (7-4) heads into the weekend having won two of its last three games. The RedHawks will be playing three road games in a four day span, kicking off the stretch with a 74-71 win over Purdue University-Calumet on Wednesday. The RedHawks road swing continues on Friday night in Manitowoc, Wis., squaring off against Silver Lake College before concluding the trip with the exhibition against UW-P.

Indiana-Northwest has been tough to beat at home, owning a 5-1 mark in games played inside the Savannah Center in Gary, Ind., but own just a 2-3 record on the road.

Megan Holland is the RedHawks leading scorer, heading into Friday averaging 17.5 points per game with a team-best 9.6 rebounds per game. Nicki Monahan adds 13.8 ppg and 4.5 rpg while Danielle Zandstra averages 9.1 ppg, 6.5 rpg and a team-leading 3.1 blocks per contest.

More Mlachnik: Volleyball libero turned guard Sarah Mlachnik made her debut on the hardwood on Sunday against Cardinal Stritch, logging 16 minutes of action. The senior joins the squad after appearing in all 112 sets this season for the volleyball team, logging a team-best 589 digs as the Rangers concluded 2013 with a mark of 18-13. Ranger basketball fans may recognize the last name as her brother, David Mlachnik, is in his second year with the men's squad.

Preseason Prognostications: UW-Parkside is picked to finish fourth in the GLVC East in 2013-2014 according to the league's 16 head coaches. The Rangers accumulated 78 points and one first place nod to secure fourth. Defending Champion Lewis University was picked to win the division with 113 points and 11 first place votes. University of Indianapolis was picked second followed by the University of Southern Indiana. Bellarmine University was picked to place fifth followed by McKendree University, Saint Joseph's College and the University of Illinois Springfield. Out West, Quincy University was selected to win the division with Maryville University, Missouri University S&T and Truman State University rounding out the top four.

Home Sweet Home: The Rangers have been nearly unbeatable at home in recent years, winning 62 of their last 68 games inside DeSimone Gymnasium. UW-P compiled an 11-3 record at home during 2012-2013 campaign, marking the first time since the 2007-2008 season the Rangers have dropped more than two contests at home. 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 and 14-1 in 2011-12.

The Yorg File: Head Coach Jacob Yorg became the program's sixth coach over the summer, 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 the GLVC West Division crown last season in the Saints' fourth year as a Division II program.

Also joining the program is top assistant Jordan Wilde. Wilde previously served in a similar capacity at NAIA Ashford University in Iowa. Former UW-Parkside standouts Brittany Beyer and Jadee Rooney will both patrol the bench as well. Beyer served as a student assistant last season after concluding her career in 2012 while Rooney joins the Ranger staff after spending the summer dominating the Big V League in Australia as a member of the Ringwood Hawks.