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

SOMERS, Wis. (Nov. 24, 2015)-- The University of Wisconsin-Parkside women's basketball team's road journey continues this week, traveling to the frozen wilderness of central Alaska for the Mount McKinley Bank North Star Invitational in Fairbanks.
 
The Rangers open the tournament on Thanksgiving with a 1 p.m. (Alaskan Time) showdown against Northwood University. UW-Parkside faces host University of Alaska-Fairbanks on Friday at 3 p.m. (Alaskan Time) and closes the trip on Saturday against Sonoma State University at 1 p.m. (Alaskan Time). Alaskan Time is three hours behind central time.
 
About the Rangers: UW-Parkside (3-0) treks up to the last frontier after blasting a pair of Great Midwest Athletic Conference opponents over the weekend at the Flyer Challenge in Romeoville, Illinois.
 
The Rangers opened the tournament last Saturday with a convincing 72-50 victory over Alderson Broaddus University before downing Davis & Elkins College 84-70 the next day.
 
Against Alderson Broaddus, the Rangers led wire-to-wire, owning a 30-20 lead at the halftime intermission and owning a double digit lead the entire second half. Kristin Conniff and Tara Knapstein paced the Rangers, both scoring 14 points while Shelby Cheston added 10 points, six rebounds, and two blocks off the bench.
 
Against Davis & Elkins, UW-Parkside was again led by Knapstein who piled on 18 points in a game the Rangers never trailed. Cheston scored 17 points in just 20 minutes, going eight-for-10 from the floor while Conniff and Stephanie Furr each added 16 points.
 
Conniff leads the Ranger scoring charge on the season, averaging 12.7 points per game while shooting 45.5 percent from beyond the arc. Knapstein heads to the 49th State averaging 12.3 ppg and 3.3 rebounds per game while Furr and Cheston both average 10.3 ppg. Jessica Prince paces the Green and White on the boards, securing 6.3 rebounds per game while Lauren Boerger boasts a team-high 3.3 assists per game.
 
Parkside currently leads the GLVC in rebounding margin, averaging +16.3 per game while checking in fourth in the conference in scoring offense (75.7 points per game).
 
Nov. 26 vs. Northwood University at Alaska Airlines Court
 
Series History: UW-Parkside and Northwood have battled six times with the series deadlocked at 3-3. The two squads last met on Nov. 30, 2014 with the visiting Rangers emerging from Midland, Michigan with a 71-52 victory.
 
About the Timberwolves: Northwood (2-1) heads to the arctic with two wins against Great Lakes Valley Conference schools under its belt, owning wins over Saint Joseph's College and the University of Indianapolis.
 
The Timberwolves opened the 2015-2016 campaign on Nov. 14, downing host Saint Joseph's 74-59 at the GLIAC/GLVC Challenge. Northwood had its fortunes reversed the next day, suffering a 78-57 setback to Lewis University. The Timberwolves had its home opener on Nov. 21, downing UIndy 69-60.
 
In Saturday's win, UIndy owned an 18-16 edge after one period but the hosts outscored the Greyhounds in each of the next three periods to tally the nine-point win. Jordyn Nurenberg highlighted the day for Northwood, finishing with 15 points and 14 boards.
 
Nurenberg is the team's leading scorer, averaging 18.0 points per game along with a team-high 12.7 rebounds per game. Lauren Robak adds 14.3 ppg and 5.0 rpg while Maddy Seeley is the third Timberwolves averaging in double figures, contributing 12.0 ppg.
 
Nov. 27 vs. University of Alaska-Fairbanks at Alaska Airlines Court
 
Series History: The Rangers and Nanooks have never met on the hardwood.
 
About the Nanooks: Alaska (3-2) returns home having won two straight games to cap off its tour of Hawaii last week. The Nanooks suffered a 76-71 setback to Brigham Young University-Hawaii on Nov. 18 before dismantling Chaminade University 82-63 the following day. UAF finished off its tour of the islands with an 87-55 blowout win over the University of Hawaii-Hilo on Saturday.
 
Against UH-Hilo, the Nanooks surged out to a 30-14 lead after one quarter of action and enjoyed a 50-23 lead at the halftime intermission. Stephanie Toumson headlined the offense, scoring 24 points with Jordan Wilson adding 23.
 
Jaylee Mays is Alaska's leading scorer, averaging 16.0 points per game through the opening five games along with 5.0 rebounds per game. Toumson chips in 15.8 ppg and 8.0 rpg with Wilson contributing 14.8 ppg and 7.2 rpg. Arinesha Smith is the fourth Nanook averaging ine double figures with 10.4 ppg and a team-high 4.2 assists per game.
 
Nov. 28 vs. Sonoma State University at Alaska Airlines Court
 
Series History: This is the first meeting between the Rangers and the Seawoives.
 
About the Seawolves: Sonoma State (3-1) dropped its opener 52-50 to Holy Names University before ripping off three straight wins by double digit margins. The Seawolves winning streak began with a 65-53 win over Notre Dame de Namur University to cap off the CCAA/Pac West Challenge on Nov. 14 before earning a pair of wins over NAIA schools from the Golden State Athletic Conference, downing William Jessup University 55-39 on Nov. 17 and taking down Menlo College 75-61 on Nov. 21.
 
Hannah Sourek is the lone Seawolf averaging in double figures, averaging 12.0 points per game and 7.0 rebounds per game. Tanner Adams averages 8.5 ppg and a team-leading 4.3 assists per game while Jerrica Crosby averages 8.0 ppg and 6.5 rpg.
 
National Rankings: UW-Parkside ranks in the top 25 nationally in two statistical categories, sitting fifth in NCAA Division II in rebounding margin (+16.3) and 12th nationally in free throw percentage (82.6 percent).
 
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. All told, the Rangers will cover over 11,895 miles between the home opener and the GLVC home opener on Jan. 2.
 
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 74 of their last 87 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 33-26.
 
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.