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

SOMERS, Wis. (Nov. 12, 2015)-- The University of Wisconsin-Parkside women's basketball team caps off its exhibition slate on Friday against Division I Western Michigan University before opening up the 2015-2016 regular season on Sunday afternoon against Tiffin University inside the friendly confines of DeSimone Gymnasium.
 
The Rangers face the Division I Broncos at 7 p.m. (Eastern Time) on Friday night in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The game will count as an exhibition for UW-Parkside and will count as a regular season game for host Western Michigan. On Sunday the regular season begins with the Rangers hosting the Dragons in a 1 p.m. non-conference tilt. Live stats and video will be provided for both contests with Friday's game being streamed on ESPN3. Sunday's contest will also feature an audio feed through the GLVC Sports Network.
 
About the Rangers: UW-Parkside nearly upset host Loyola University Chicago to open up the exhibition slate back on Nov. 1 before succumbing to the hosts 65-54. The Rangers trailed by 12 points after the first period but outscored the Ramblers over the next two 10-minute periods, building a 51-48 lead with 6:04 remaining. Loyola regained control over the next four minutes, utilizing a 13-1 run to build a nine-point buffer en route to the 11-point win.
 
The Rangers crushed the Ramblers on the glass, owning a 60-35 rebounding edge but were sabotaged by 34 turnovers on the afternoon. Kristin Conniff led the Parkside scoring charge, hitting four three-pointers and ending the day with 20 points while Jessica Prince tallied nine points and nine boards off the bench.
 
UW-Parkside enjoyed its biggest single-season turnaround in program history last season under Head Coach Jacob Yorg, returning to the NCAA Division II Tournament for the fifth time in six years after posting a 22-8 record and a 14-4 mark in Great Lakes Valley Conference play.
 
The Green and White return three players who made at least 15 starts last season, including Conniff, Prince, and Stephanie Furr. Conniff was second on the team in scoring in 2014-2015, averaging 10.0 points per game while canning a team-high 45 treys on the year. Prince was a force on the glass, grabbing 4.6 rebounds per game in addition to her 4.4 points per game while Furr returns after averaging 7.8 points per game a year ago.
 
Also returning is Tara Knapstein and Brittney Fair who both played pivotal roles coming off the bench. Knapstein led the team in blocks with 19 while chipping in 9.2 ppg while Fair tallied 6.3 ppg while pacing the team in steals with 44.
 
Nov. 13 vs. Western Michigan University at University Arena (Live Stats)(Video)
 
About the Broncos: Western Michigan ripped through Division II Lake Eric College 72-42 in an exhibition on Nov. 8 before it opens the regular season this Friday against the Rangers. WMU was picked to finish third in the Mid-American Conference West Division this season after finishing the 2014-2015 campaign with a 20-13 overall record and an 11-7 mark in MAC action, earning an invitation to the Women's NIT were the squad fell 61-49 to Arkansas State University in the opening round.
 
Western Michigan conceded the opening six points of the exhibition against Lake Erie but it was all Broncos after that as four players ended the contest in double figures in the 30-point blowout win.
 
Meredith Shipman paced WMU, scoring 14 points while adding seven rebounds in just 19 minutes of work. Jessica Jessing and Breanna Mobley both dropped 11 points while Najee Smith added 10.
 
Nov. 15 vs. Tiffin University at DeSimone Gymnasium (Live Stats)(Video)(Audio)
 
Series History: The Rangers and Dragons have met just once on the hardwood with visiting UW-Parkside prevailing 60-42 last season on Nov. 22. UW-Parkside received tremendous production from the bench, with the Ranger reserves accounting for 41 of the squad's 60 points, including a 15-point performance from Kristin Conniff.
 
About the Dragons: Tiffin dropped its final five games of the 2014-2015 season, closing the year with a 7-21 overall record and a 6-16 mark in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play.
 
The Dragons have a new face on the bench with Jason Mishler taking over the reins of the program after spending the previous four seasons as the head coach at GLIAC rival Malone University. Mishler's squad was selected to place sixth in the GLIAC South Division in the preseason coaches' poll and has the luxury of returning its top five scorers from a season ago.
 
Spearheading the attack is Bre Nauman who returns after leading the Dragons in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 12.6 points per game and 7.4 rebounds per game. Kaylee Patton adds 12.3 ppg while Jordan Fraley is back after netting 9.9 ppg. Deidre McKay chipped in 8.2 ppg while adding 3.1 rpg and a team-best 3.6 assists per game.
 
A big loss for the Dragons was the defection of Shelby Cheston who now plays for UW-Parkside. Cheston tallied a team-high 36 blocks on the season despite seeing just 10 minutes of action a game as a reserve.
 
Coat Drive: Fans donating winter coats, hats, gloves, mittens, or other winter accessories will receive free admission to the Rangers' home opener against Tiffin on Sunday. The winter items collected will be donated to Women's and Children Horizons in Kenosha, an organization that offers shelter and support for victims of domestic and sexual abuse in the community since its founding in 1976.
 
Road Warriors: Heavy travel during the non-conference slate, a staple of Head Coach Jacob Yorg, continues this season with 11 of the first 12 games being played at neutral sites or on the road. The season-opening barnstorming tour will feature games in four different time zones, including for the second consecutive season, a string of games outside the continental United States. This season the Rangers play three games in Alaska while last season the squad played a trio of games in Puerto Rico.
 
20-Win Club: UW-Parkside defeated McKendree University on Feb. 19, 2015 to secure the program's fifth 20-win campaign over the past six seasons. The Rangers have six total 20 win seasons in program history with all of them coming since 2004, including five under the direction of former Head Coach Jenny Knight-Kenesie (2002-2013).

Pod-demonium: The GLVC continues its pod system for the 2015-2016 season, 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 the University of Indianapolis, Saint Joseph's College, and travel partner Lewis University. Pod mates rotate every two years with the Rangers previously paired with Lewis, University of Illinois Springfield and McKendree University from 2013-2015.
 
Preseason Prognostications: UW-Parkside is picked to finish second in the GLVC East in 2015-2016 according to the league's 16 head coaches.
 
The Rangers accumulated 97 points and two first place nods to secure the No. 2 position in the East Division. Lewis University collected the remaining 14 first place votes, snagging the top spot in the East with 119 points. The University of Southern Indiana (25-7, 15-3 GLVC) is third with 92 points with Bellarmine University (14-13, 9-9 GLVC) rounding out the upper half of the division, slotting fourth with 75 points.
 
The University of Indianapolis (12-16, 8-10 GLVC) is fifth with 73 points, followed by Saint Joseph's College (11-18, 7-11 GLVC) in sixth (54 points), University of Illinois Springfield (6-20, 2-16 GLVC) in seventh (32 points), and McKendree University (2-24, 1-17 GLVC) in eighth (26 points).
 
In the West Division, defending GLVC Tournament Champion Drury University (26-4, 17-1 GLVC) sits atop the poll, raking in 120 points and 15 of the 16 first place votes. Quincy University (16-12, 10-8 GLVC) is second with 105 points and the lone remaining No. 1 vote followed by Truman State University (16-11, 10-8 GLVC) in third (85 points) and University of Missouri-Saint Louis (14-14, 9-9 GLVC) in fourth (72 points).
 
Maryville University (15-14, 8-10 GLVC) is slotted to place fifth with 67 points followed by William Jewell College (15-12, 10-8 GLVC) in sixth (50 points), Rockhurst University (11-15, 5-13 GLVC) in seventh (44 points), and Missouri University S&T (6-20, 2-16 GLVC) in eighth (25 points).
 
Home Sweet Home: The Rangers have been nearly unbeatable at home in recent years, winning 73 of their last 86 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, 7-7 in 2013-14, and finished last season with a 7-2 mark inside DeSimone Gym.
 
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.
 
Yorg guided the Rangers to the biggest single season turnaround in program history in 2014-2015, guiding the team back to the NCAA Division II Tournament while netting a program-record 12 game win streak during GLVC play. Yorg's record at Parkside currently stands at 30-26.
 
Joining Yorg on the bench this season will be assistants Courtney Boyd and Dean Mlachnik. This will be Boyd's first season with the Green and White, previously serving as the head coach at AIB College of Business in Iowa while Mlachnik returns for his second season with UW-Parkside.