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

SOMERS, Wis. (Nov. 11, 2014)-- After two exhibitions the University of Wisconsin-Parkside women's basketball team opens the regular season, traveling north to Gopher State to face Minnesota State University-Moorhead and University of Minnesota-Crookston at the Highway 75 Classic.
 
The Rangers tipoff the season on Friday at 6 p.m. against the host Dragons before taking on UM-Crookston on Saturday at 7 p.m. Both games will be played inside Alex Nemzek Hall on the campus of MSU-Moorhead.
 
About the Rangers: UW-Parkside heads into the opener having split a pair of exhibitions against Division I foes. UW-Parkside demolished host Valparaiso University 69-52 on Nov. 1 before falling 78-47 to Northwestern University on Sunday.
 
Kristin Conniff was the Rangers' leading scorer during the exhibition slate, averaging 10.5 points per game off the bench while Gaby Bronson tallied 9.0 ppg and a team-leading 8.5 rebounds per game.
 
Last season the Rangers posted an 8-18 overall record and a 4-14 mark in Great Lakes Valley Conference action in Head Coach Jacob Yorg's first season at the helm. Of the team's 18 setbacks, seven were by five points or less while seven of the squad's eight victories came inside the friendly confines of DeSimone Gymnasium.
 
The Rangers return their top two leading scorers from a year ago in Bronson (14.3 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 3.9 assists per game) and Tara Knapstein (12.5 ppg, 4.9 rpg) and four of their top five scorers. Also returning for 2014-2015 is Michigan native Maddie Johnston (8.6 ppg, 4.0 rpg) and volleyball libero turned point guard Sarah Mlachnik (5.8 ppg, 4.2 rpg).
 
The Rangers boast three freshmen in 2013-2014 while adding three transfers to the 17-player roster. Junior Catie Cox comes to Parkside from the junior college ranks where she played at Kishwaukee College in Illinois while junior Jessica Prince joins the Green and White from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Senior Justine Boerger is the third Ranger transfer, coming to Somers after three seasons with Marshall University.
 
About the Dragons: Minnesota State-Moorhead finished last season with a 16-11 overall record and a 12-11 mark in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play. The Dragons pieced together a six-game win streak in late January and early February but the season derailed with three straight losses to end the season in the opening round of the NSIC Tournament.
 
The Rangers and Dragons met on Nov. 15 last season at the Radisson Hotel Roseville Classic in Saint Paul, Minnesota with MSU-Moorhead prevailing 71-68.
 
About the Golden Eagles:  Minnesota-Crookston compiled a 10-17 overall mark in 2013-2014, including a 7-15 record in NSIC action. The Golden Eagles owned a 9-6 record in home contests but managed just one win in 12 tries in games away from Lysaker Gymnasium.
 
The Golden Eagles have already hit the hardwood this season, facing the University of North Dakota in an exhibition on Nov. 9 where they suffered a 70-50 setback. UMC actually led the hosts 31-28 at the halftime break before North Dakota exploded with a huge second half effort.
 
Katrina Moenkedick and Micaela Noga led the Golden Eagles in the exhibition, each scoring 10 points while Alexa Theilman added eight points in the 20-point setback.
 
Road Warriors: UW-Parkside will play its opening 15 games on the road this season. By the time the Rangers tipoff against Maryville University on Jan. 8 in the home opener, UW-Parkside will have logged 7,261 miles of travel, touring seven states along with the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
 
The two-month long road odyssey will see the Rangers play games in Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio, Iowa, Michigan, Illinois (again), Puerto Rico, Ohio (again) and Missouri.
 
Pod-demonium: The GLVC continues its pod system for the 2014-2015, retaining the setup of two divisions with two 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 University of Illinois Springfield, McKendree University and Lewis University.

Preseason Prognostications: UW-Parkside is picked to finish fifth in the GLVC East in 2014-2015 according to the league's 16 head coaches.
 
The Rangers accumulated 60 points and one first place nod to secure fifth. Lewis University collected 13 of the 16 first place votes, snagging the top spot in the East with 118 points. The University of Indianapolis and the University of Southern Indiana each grabbed a first place vote, placing second and third in the poll, respectively. Bellarmine University rounds out the upper half of the division, slotting fourth with 74 points. Saint Joseph's College was picked sixth (53 points) followed by the University of Illinois Springfield in seventh (38 points) and McKendree University in eighth (30 points).

In the West Division, Drury University scooped up 12 of the 16 first place endorsements, claiming the top spot with 115 points. Quincy University is second with 94 points and one first place vote followed by Maryville University with 93 points and one first place vote. Truman State University grabbed two first place votes and 89 points to secure fourth while the University of Missouri-Saint Louis is fifth with 64 points. William Jewell College is sixth (47 points) followed by Missouri University S&T  in seventh (40 points) and Rockhurst University in eighth (26 points).

Home Sweet Home: The Rangers have been nearly unbeatable at home in recent years, winning 66 of their last 77 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, 11-3 in 2012-13 and 7-7 this season.

The Yorg File: Head Coach Jacob Yorg became the program's sixth coach prior to the 2013-2014 season, 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 a GLVC Tournament Championship and a GLVC West Division crown.
 
Joining Yorg on the bench this season will be former Ranger student-athlete Danielle Slivka along with Oliver Wiseman and Dean Mlachnik.