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

Box Score

MOORHEAD, Minn. (Nov. 14, 2014)-- Gaby Bronson poured on a game-high 20 points, powering the University of Wisconsin-Parkside women's basketball team to a 70-61 victory over host Minnesota State University-Moorhead on Friday night inside Nemzek Fieldhouse at the Highway 76 Classic to open the 2014-2015 season.

The Rangers (1-0) and Red Dragons (0-1) traded leads in the early going, before the Green and White started to pull away, staking a seven-point advantage with 4:40 left in the opening stanza off a trey from Justine Boerger. UW-Parkside enjoyed a six-point buffer at intermission, leading MSU-Moorhead 34-28 after 20 minutes of action.

Moorhead quickly nullified the Ranger advantage in the second half, taking the lead with 16:55 left off a pair of Heather Strese free throws. The Dragons ballooned its lead to six with 11:29 left in the game before the Rangers tallied 10 straight points to regain the lead. Tara Knapstein kickstarted the scoring surge, canning a jumper before getting a three from Kristin Conniff. Knapstein added another bucket before Bronson capped off the run with a three the old-fashioned way, converting a layup and sinking a free throw with 8:35 left in the contest.

MSUM tied the game at 51 with 7:42 remaining but the Rangers scored the next six points and led the rest of the way en route to the nine-point victory.

Bronson paced all scorers with 20 points while also adding five rebounds. Conniff contributed 16 points off the bench while Knapstein chipped in 11 points and four assists. Jennifer Blunt grabbed a team-high eight rebounds with J. Boerger adding seven.

Meghan Roehrich led the Dragons, scoring 19 points while Savnna Handevidt tallied 13. Heather Strese was the third MSUM player in double figures, netting a double-double off the bench with 12 points and 10 boards.

The Rangers shot 41 percent (25-for-61) for the game while limiting the hosts to shooting just 32.7 percent (16-for-49).

UW-Parkside faces the University of Minnesota-Crookston on Saturday at 7 p.m. to close out the Highway 76 Classic.