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

SOMERS, Wis. (Nov. 18, 2014)-- Ohio is the destination for the University of Wisconsin-Parkside women's basketball squad this week as the Rangers look to remain unbeaten after snagging a pair of wins to open the season last week at the Highway 76 Classic in Minnesota.
 
UW-Parkside will face Ohio Dominican University on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. inside Alumni Hall in Columbus, Ohio before taking on Tiffin University on Saturday in Tiffin, Ohio at 1 p.m. inside the Heminger Center.
 
About the Rangers: UW-Parkside (2-0) is off to a hot start, dismantling a pair of Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference foes last weekend at the Highway 76 Classic. UW-Parkside opened the year with a 70-61 win over host Minnesota State University-Moorhead on Nov. 14 before downing University of Minnesota-Crookston 82-64 on Saturday night.
 
Against MSU-Moorhead, the game was tied 51-51 with 7:42 remaining before the Rangers mounted a 6-0 run to recapture the lead. UW-Parkside led the rest of the way en route to the nine-point win. Gaby Bronson posted a game-high 20 points while Kristin Conniff and Tara Knapstein added 16 and 11 points, respectively.
 
A day later against Minnesota-Crookston, Bronson collected a triple-double as the Rangers led wire-to-wire. UW-Parkside scored the first 10 points of the game and led 41-29 at the half. The Golden Eagles closed to within four points with 15:02 left but the Rangers quickly mounted a 7-0 run to increase the buffer back to double digits. Bronson finished with 19 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds, earning Tournament Co-MVP accolades. Justine Boerger hit four threes to tally 18 points on the night while Knapstein finished with 15 points.
 
On the season, four Rangers average in double figures with Bronson leading the way with a 19.6 points per game average. The senior additionally leads the team on the glass, averaging 7.5 rebounds per game along with a team-best 8.0 assists per game. Knapstein, J. Boerger and Conniff all average 13.0 ppg, with Boerger additionally averaging 6.0 rpg.
 
UW-Parkside has been deadly from distance this season, canning 50.0 percent (20-for-40) of its shots from beyond the arc.
 
About the Panthers: Ohio Dominican (1-1) split a pair of games last weekend at the GLIAC/GMAC Crossover, blasting Ursuline University 96-65 on Nov. 14 behind a 24-point effort from Madi Rittinger before getting edged 85-82 by Cedarville University the next day.
 
Against the Yellow Jackets, ODU led for most of the opening 32 minutes before surrendering the lead late in the game at Alumni Hall. Leading the charge for the Panthers was Kacee Hockenberry who posted a game-high 26 points to surpass the 1,000-point barrier.
 
Hockenberry is the Panthers' leading scorer, averaging 20.0 points per game while Rittinger and Melissa Scherpenberg chip in 19.5 and 16.0 ppg, respectively. Scherpenberg grabs a team-best 11.5 rebounds per game while Ruttinger adds 7.5 rpg.
 
About the Dragons: Tiffin (0-0) begins its season on Thursday, hosting Cedarville before taking on the Rangers two days later. The Dragons were picked to finish seventh in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference South Division in 2014-2015 after finishing last season with a 7-19 overall mark and a 4-18 record in league play.
 
Bre Nauman is the squad's leading returner, averaging 9.4 points per game and 6.8 rebounds per game last season. Other notable returners for Tiffin include Jordan Fraley (7.6 ppg), Deidre McKay (6.5 ppg) and Kaylee Patton (7.5 ppg).
 
Bronsketball: Gabby Bronson was named the GLVC Player of the Week on Nov. 17 for performance at the Highway 76 Classic where she earned Co-MVP honors after notching a triple-double and averaging 19.5 points per game, 8.0 assists per game and 7.5 rebounds per game.
 
Bronson became the first Ranger to win the award since Jenna Endisch did so on Dec. 20, 2012.
 
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.