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

SOMERS, Wis. (Jan. 7, 2015)-- The wait is over. After 15 games on the road to begin the season the University of Wisconsin-Parkside women's basketball squad finally gets to enjoy the comforts of home. The Rangers unpack their bags as Great Lakes Valley Conference foes Maryville University and the University of Missouri-Saint Louis trek up to DeSimone Gymnasium this week.
 
The Rangers home opener is on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. against Maryville before hosting UMSL on Saturday at 1 p.m. Live stats, video and audio will be provided for both games. Steve Kratochvil will provide the play-by-play while Jim Kramer will add color commentary on the audio feed available online and over the airwaves on WRJN 1400 AM throughout southeastern Wisconsin.
 
About the Rangers: UW-Parkside (8-4, 1-2 GLVC) earned a split last weekend against a pair of GLVC West Division squads to close out the opening road swing that covered 7,261 miles.
 
The Rangers were undone at the free throw line on Jan. 2, falling 78-66, as host Truman State University made 43 trips to the line and hit 33 of their attempts. Gaby Bronson led the Rangers with 13 points and eight boards in a game the Bulldogs never trailed.
 
Two days later against Quincy University it was Stephanie Furr emerging as the hero, hitting a layup with six seconds left as the Rangers edged the host Hawks 55-54 in a see-saw battle that witnessed 11 lead changes and three ties.
 
QU owned an eight-point lead with 3:45 left but the Rangers whittled the deficit to just a point with 40 seconds left. The Hawks nailed a pair of free throws to push the lead back to three points before Bronson closed the Green and White back to within a point with a layup with 11 seconds remaining. A miscommunication on the inbounds play led to a Quincy turnover allowing Furr to drill the game-winner with six seconds left. Quincy had one final shot but it was swatted away by Bronson as time expired.
 
The Hawks owned a 32-25 lead at the halftime break. UW-Parkside conceded the opening 13 points before utilizing a 16-2 run to claim its first lead of the game. The Rangers tallied 14 of the first 18 points in the second half to reestablish a lead but the hosts answered with a 13-2 run to build an eight-point edge.
 
Bronson again led the team with 12 points and five assists while Kristin Conniff and Tara Knapstein added 11 and 10 points, respectively.
 
Bronson leads the team on the season in scoring (12.9 points per game), rebounding (5.8 per game) and assists (5.7 per game). Conniff adds 10.1 points per game and is a threat on the perimeter, hitting 34.5 percent of her chances from beyond the arc. Tara Knapstein adds 7.8 ppg while Furr chips in 7.1 ppg. Sarah Mlachnik is second on the squad in rebounding, hauling in 4.9 rpg while collecting a team-best 20 steals. As a team, the Rangers lead the GLVC in scoring defense, yielding just 57.7 points per game.

Jan. 8 vs. Maryville University at DeSimone Gymnasium (Live Stats)(Video)(Audio)
 
Series History: The Rangers and Saints have met four times since the series began during the 2009-2010 season with each team winning two games. Maryville has won the last two encounters, including a 78-60 win last season on Jan. 11 inside Moloney Arena. In that game the Saints tallied 21 of the game's opening 25 points and limited the Rangers to shooting just 20.8 percent in the first half.
 
About the Saints: Maryville (8-3, 2-0 GLVC) heads north to Wisconsin riding a six-game win streak after completing the month of December undefeated. The Saints dropped three games during a four-game stretch from Nov. 21 through Nov. 29, closing out the span with e 74-64 setback to Missouri Western State University.
 
Since then Maryville has been unstoppable, crushing Robert Morris University-Springfield 81-57 on Dec. 6 before heading to Puerto Rico and netting wins over Metropolitan College (87-31) on Dec. 18, University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras (67-40) on Dec. 19 and the University of Puerto Rico-Bayamon (76-71) on Dec. 20. The Saints returned back to the continental United States and opened GLVC play last week with a 79-68 win over McKendree University on Jan. 2 before downing University of Illinois Springfield 84-70 on Sunday.
 
Three Saints average in double figures, with Alex Hillyer leading the way averaging 14.4 points per game while also grabbing 6.9 rebounds per game. Jordynn Martin checks in at 13.3 ppg while Shelby Miller adds 13.3 ppg and 5.9 rpg. Jade Rogers has pulled down a team-leading 7.8 rpg while Rita Flynn nets 7.5 rpg.
 
Jan. 10 vs. University of Missouri-Saint Louis at DeSimone Gymnasium (Live Stats)(Video)(Audio)
 
Series History: UW-Parkside and UMSL have met 26 times on the hardwood with the Rangers enjoying a 16-10 edge in the all-time series. The Tritons claimed last season's meeting by a 74-50 score on Jan. 9 after scoring 22 unanswered points during a nine-minute stretch in the opening half of action.
 
About the Tritons: Missouri-Saint Louis (6-4, 2-0 GLVC) snapped a three-game slide last week, overpowering GLVC foes Illinois Springfield and McKendree inside the Mark Twain Building.
 
UMSL dropped a one point decision to Lindenwood University on Dec. 13, falling 79-78 before getting tripped up by the University of Findlay (72-66) on Dec. 20 and Ohio Dominican University (67-57) on Dec. 21.
 
The Tritons snapped out of their funk on Jan. 2, opening league play with a 54-34 win over Illinois Springfield in a game that UMSL held the Prairie Stars to just six points in the first half. Two days later Amber Daly netted 24 points in a 66-57 win over McKendree.
 
UMSL is a perfect 5-0 at home this season but has struggled away from home, owning a 1-4 mark away from the Mark Twain Building. The Tritons lone win away from campus was a 67-30 dismantling of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras on Nov. 16.
 
Alexis Lawrence is the lone Triton averaging in double figures, collecting 15.4 points per game. Tierra Snow adds 9.7 ppg and 7.0 rebounds per game while Kelly Kunkel and Daly add 9.6 and 9.5 ppg, respectively. Kelly McGovern leads UMSL on the glass, averaging 7.4 rpg.
 
Return to DeSimone: Thursday's home game will be the Rangers' first contest at DeSimone in 320 days. The last time out on the home court UW-Parkside treated fans to a 68-52 win over the University of Illinois Springfield all the way back on Feb. 22, 2014.
 
This season's opening 15-game wing covered 7,261 miles and toured seven different states along with the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The two-month long road odyssey saw the Rangers play games in Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio, Iowa, Michigan, Illinois (again), Puerto Rico, Ohio (again) and Missouri.
 
Island Adventures: On top of playing three games in three days the UW-Parkside women's basketball squad was also able to soak in a few sights in Puerto Rico during their nearly week long stay from Dec. 15-21. The Rangers toured Castillo San Cristobal, the largest fortification built by the Spanish in the Americas while walking the cobblestone streets of Old San Juan. The team additionally traveled to rural Fajardo where they kayaked a lagoon featuring rare bioluminescent life forms and soaked in some sun on the beaches of San Juan.
 
Bench Buckets: UW-Parkside has generated points off the bench all season with the reserves outscoring the starters on four of the 12 regular season games this season. The Ranger reserves netted 39 of the team's 69 points on Nov. 20 in a 10-point win over Ohio Dominican University while the backups poured on 41 points in a 60-42 win over Tiffin University on Nov. 22. Parkside's bench collected 36 of the team's 61 points on Dec. 4 against Lewis University and 35 points in a 60-41 win over the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras on Dec. 16.
 
GLVC Accolades: Gabby Bronson was named the GLVC Player of the Week on Nov. 17 for her performance at the Highway 76 Classic where the senior 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.

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 last 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.