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

SOMERS, Wis. (Feb. 26, 2014)-- The University of Wisconsin-Parkside women's basketball team heads into Thursday's regular season finale against nemesis Lewis University in control of its own destiny, able to secure a spot in the 2014 Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament with a victory.

The Rangers and 13th-ranked Flyers will tip off at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday inside Neil Carey Arena in suburban Chicago. Live stats, video and audio will be provided with Jim Kramer and Mark Albanese on the audio feed available online and on local airwaves on WRJN 1400 AM in southeast Wisconsin.

About the Rangers: A UW-Parkside (8-17, 4-13 GLVC) win and the team makes the GLVC Tournament while a loss forces the Rangers to rely on the outcome of other games in order to make the postseason.

Parkside finished its home slate last week, falling 59-54 to McKendree University on Thursday night before rebounding with a 68-52 win over the University of Illinois Springfield two days later on Senior Day.

Against McKendree, the Rangers had the game tied at 54-54 with 5:08 left but were unable to score the rest of the game, finishing 0-for-nine from floor in a defensive slugfest that featured eight lead changes and 13 ties.

Gaby Bronson led the Rangers with 17 points along with five rebounds while Maddie Johnston and Danielle Slivka added 12 and 10 points, respectively.

On Saturday against Illinois Springfield, the Rangers used a big second half to pull away from the visiting Prairie Stars, securing one final home victory for senior Danielle Slivka.

UW-Parkside led by just five at the halftime break, 28-25 before outscoring UIS by a 40-29 margin in the second 20 minutes of action.

Tara Knapstein scored 22 points to pace all scorers while Bronson finished with 16 points and nine boards.  The tenacious Ranger defense limited UIS to shooting just 29.5 percent (18-for-61) from the floor.

Bronson leads the Rangers in several statistical categories on the season, averaging 14.2 points per game, 6.4 rebounds per game, 4.0 assists per game while shooting a team-best 48.7 percent from the floor. Knapstein averages 12.6 ppg and 5.0 rpg while Slivka tallied 10.2 ppg and 4.6 rpg. Maddie Johnson chips in 8.4 ppg while Sarah Mlachnik adds 5.9 ppg.

Seven of UW-Parkside's eight wins have come inside the comforts of DeSimone Gymnasium. The Rangers are just 1-10 outside of Wisconsin this season with the lone win coming at the expense of McKendree on Jan. 18.

The Rangers rank second in the GLVC in scoring defense, yielding just 63.9 points per game.

Series History: The Rangers and Flyers have met 58 times with Lewis owning a 37-21 edge in the all-time series. UW-Parkside won the first meeting of the year back on Jan. 20, inside DeSimone Gymnasium, edging the then No. 25 Flyers, 51-50. In a game with 14 lead changes and six ties, the host Rangers secured the lead for good with 39 ticks left off a Slivka basket. Mlachnik came up huge with a block the next possession before sinking a pair of free throws. Lewis hit a layup with five seconds left but the Rangers held strong, emerging with the one-point decision.

About the Flyers: 13th-ranked Lewis (21-4, 15-2 GLVC) has already clinched its second-consecutive GLVC East Division title and is gunning for a shot at the overall number one seed for the upcoming GLVC Tournament.

The Flyers soar into Thursday's showdown riding a two-game win streak and have not lost at home all season, owning a 13-0 mark inside Neil Carey Arena while having won its last 24 games inside the building.

Lewis fell 89-70 to GLVC West Division leading Drury University on Feb. 15 in Springfield, Mo., but has since rattled off wins over Illinois Springfield (82-77 OT) on Feb. 20 and McKendree (75-63) on Saturday.

Against UIS, the Flyers needed overtime to escape with the win after squandering a 12-point advantage. Jess Reinhart led the way with 23 points and 11 boards helping the Flyers notch back-to-back 20 win seasons for the first time since the 1983-84 and 1984-85 campaigns.

Against McKendree, Lewis led by as many as 19-points, never trailing en route to the 12-point win as Jamie Johnson paced the Flyers with 19 points while Mariyah Henley added 14 points and 13 boards.

Henley leads the Flyers in both scoring and rebounding on the season, averaging 18.3 points per game and 12.4 rebounds per game. Johnson adds 16.6 ppg while Reinhardt accumulates 15.6 ppg and 7.3 rpg.

Lewis leads the league in assists, averaging 17.4 per game while ranking third in scoring offense at 79.3 points per game.

GLVC Tournament: The top 12 teams qualify for the 2014 Deaconess GLVC Tournament with the top four squads all receiving first round byes. 11 of the 12 spots have already been secured with UW-Parkside holding the inside track for the 12th and final position.

The first round will be conducted on Sunday, March 2, with the top-seeded teams not receiving byes hosting on-campus. The GLVC Quarterfinals and beyond begin on March 6 inside the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind. To pre-order session passes, visiting the UW-Parkside athletic department office.

Pod-demonium: The GLVC has broken the two divisions into pods of four for the 2013-2014 season. 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 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 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 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.