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

SOMERS, Wis.. (Jan. 14, 2014)-- The University of Wisconsin-Parkside women's basketball squad begins divisional play this week, hitting the road and taking on Great Lakes Valley Conference East Division foes University of Illinois Springfield and McKendree University.

The Rangers and Prairie Stars square off on Thursday night at 5:30 p.m. inside The Recreation and Athletic Center (TRAC) before closing the road trip on Saturday afternoon in Lebanon, Ill., taking on the Bearcats at 1 p.m. inside the Statham Center. Live stats, video and audio will be provided for both games. Steve Kratochvil will be on the call on the audio feed available online and on local airwaves on WRJN 1400 AM in southeast Wisconsin.

About the Rangers: UW-Parkside (4-8, 0-4 GLVC) looks to tally its first victory of the conference slate after coming up empty handed in the first four games against GLVC West squads.

UW-Parkside suffered a pair of setback last week, succumbing to a nine-minute scoring funk in a 74-50 defeat to University of Missouri-Saint Louis on Jan. 9 before tumbling 78-60 to host Maryville University two days later.

Against the Tritons, the two sides traded leads seven times in the opening eight minutes with UW-Parkside owning a 20-17 edge with 12:25 left in the first half, courtesy of a Tara Knapstein three. The Rangers would go ice cold over the next nine minutes as UMSL tallied the next 22 points and led the rest of the way. Danielle Slivka led the Rangers with 14 points while Gaby Bronson added 10.

Against Maryville, the Rangers struggled with turnovers and cold shooting in the early goings as the Saints collected 21 of the game's first 25 points. UW-Parkside was unable to overcome the sluggish start despite outscoring Maryville in the second 20 minutes of action. Bronson led the way with 15 points and eight rebounds while Knapstein collected 14 points.

A model of consistency, Bronson leads the Rangers in scoring and rebounding, averaging 13.8 points per game and 6.2 rebounds per game. The junior has finished in double figures in each of the last seven games and in 11 of the 12 games this season. The Whitefish Bay native additionally leads the team in assists with 51 on the season.

Slivka averages 12.3 ppg and 5.3 rpg while Knapstein is the third Ranger averaging in double figures, contributing 11.7 ppg along with 5.1 rpg. Maddie Johnston adds 9.8 ppg while volleyball libero turned basketball guard Sarah Mlachnik chips in 5.3 ppg.

Jan. 16 vs. University of Illinois Springfield at The Recreation and Athletic Center (Live Stats)(Video)(Audio)

Series History: The Rangers and Prairie Stars have met on six occasions with UW-Parkside prevailing in all six games. The two squads did not meet in 2012-2013, having last met on Jan. 12, 2012 inside DeSimone Gymnasium with the host Rangers steamrolling UIS 79-42.

About the Prairie Stars: Illinois Springfield (4-9, 0-5 GLVC) heads into Thursday's clash having dropped four straight and still searching for its first win of league play. The Prairie Stars have yet to win in 2014, with the last victory coming on Dec. 21 against non-conference foe Oakland City University (76-63). Since then UIS has dropped games to Maryville (74-67), UMSL (73-68), Truman State University (94-65) and 23rd-ranked Quincy University (78-61).

Megan Bergerud leads the Prairie Stars in scoring, entering Thursday averaging 16.9 points per game while also averaging 3.8 rebounds per game. Alyssa Palmer chips in 10.4 ppg and 3.2 assists per game while Cassie Wolfe averages 9.2 ppg. Elizabeth Kelly leads the team on the glass, averaging 9.4 rpg while adding 7.5 ppg on the offensive end.

Jan. 18 vs. McKendree University at Statham Center (Live Stats)(Video)(Audio)

Series History: The Rangers and Bearcats have met three times with UW-Parkside owning a 2-1 advantage in the series. UW-Parkside won both games last season, downing McKendree 62-54 in Lebanon on Jan. 19 before earning the sweep with an 81-55 blowout win on Feb. 14 inside DeSimone Gymnasium.

About the Bearcats: McKendree (6-6, 1-3 GLVC) heads into Thursday's showdown with Lewis University looking to snap a four-game slide.  The Bearcats cracked triple digits on Dec. 21, outlasting Davis & Elkins College 104-95 but have since dropped four straight, falling to Kentucky Wesleyan College (69-59), UMSL (69-63), Quincy (92-66) and Truman State (81-66).

Four Bearcats average in double figures with Caty Ponce leading the way with 17.3 points per game. Brittany Willis averages 12.3 ppg and 4.5 rebounds per game while Liz Gilman and Ashley Klass average 10.3 and 10.0 ppg, respectively. 

Pod-demonium: The GLVC has broken the two divisions into pods of four. Pod mates will play each other in a home and home series and play all other opponents once. UW-Parkside's pod includes UIS, McKendree and Lewis.

North, West, and East?: Illinois Springfield joined the East Division in 2013-2014 after spending the previous two seasons in the West Division. Prior to 2011-12, the Prairie Stars competed for two seasons in the GLVC North Division which included at the time Quincy, Lewis, Saint Joseph's College and UW-Parkside.

I Can't Drive 55: The Rangers are 4-0 on the season when holding opponents to under 55 points but are 0-8 when yielding 56 or more points. The stout Ranger defense has allowed just two teams to score more than 74 points, yielding 80 points in the non-conference finale against Michigan Tech University on Dec. 21 and allowing 78 against Maryville University on Jan. 11.

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.

GLVC Shuffle: This offseason the 16-member GLVC saw a few tweaks to its membership. Charter member Kentucky Wesleyan College exited the league to join the nascent Great Midwest Athletic Conference with Truman State University from the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association filling the void. The addition of Truman moved the University of Illinois Springfield from the West Division to the East Division.

Home Sweet Home: The Rangers have been nearly unbeatable at home in recent years, winning 63 of their last 71 games inside DeSimone Gymnasium. 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, 14-1 in 2011-12 and 11-3 in 2012-13.

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.