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

SOMERS, Wis. (Dec. 31, 2015)-- After nearly two months on the road, the University of Wisconsin-Parkside women's basketball squad finally gets to enjoy the comforts of home, resuming Great Lakes Valley Conference play on Saturday inside DeSimone Gymnasium against East Division nemesis and seventh-ranked Lewis University.
 
The Rangers and Flyers tip off at 1 p.m. inside DeSimone Gymnasium with live stats, video, and audio available for fans online.
 
About the Rangers: UW-Parkside (7-3) returns home having won two in a row and four of its last five games. The Rangers' lone blemish in December came against GLVC foe Saint Joseph's College on Dec. 5, surrendering a 15-point advantage in a 67-63 setback. UW-Parkside rebounded with a 65-43 win over Concordia University Oregon on Dec. 18 to open the Sodexo Tip-Off Classic before cruising by host Seattle Pacific University 60-53 the following day.
 
Against Concordia, the stingy Ranger defense had its best outing of the season, limiting the Cavaliers to just 43 points and forcing CU to shoot a paltry 26.7 percent from the floor. UW-Parkside led wire-to-wire in the non-conference clash, leading by as many as 25 points behind a 16-point performance from Kristin Conniff.
 
The following day against Seattle Pacific, Parkside again used a strong defensive effort to pull out the victory, limiting the Falcons to 17 first half points. Jessica Prince tallied her first double-double of the season, pouring on 16 points while grabbing 12 boards in 22 minutes of action, securing Tournament MVP accolades while Tara Knapstein had 10 points and also nabbed a spot on the five player All-Tournament Team.
 
Three Rangers average in double figures on the season with Conniff leading the way, averaging 14.9 points per game. The senior has drained a team-best 24 threes on the season and is the lone Ranger to start all 10 games this year. Stephanie Furr adds 11.4 ppg and a team-high 6.0 rebounds per game while Knapstein chips in 11.0 ppg and 5.3 rpg with a team-best 20 steals and 2.6 assists per game. Shelby Cheston has accounted for 12 of the Rangers' 29 blocks this season while also adding 5.9 ppg and 4.2 rpg.
 
As a team, the Rangers rank third in the GLVC in free throw percentage and 17th nationally, hitting 76.2 percent of opportunities from the charity stripe while standing fifth in the conference in rebounding margin at +6.6.
 
Jan. 2 vs. Lewis University at DeSimone Gymnasium (Live Stats)(Video)(Audio)
 
Series History: The Rangers and Flyers have locked heads on 62 occasions with Lewis enjoying a 41-21 edge in the all-time series. The two squads met three times last season with the Flyers sweeping the season series. Lewis opened GLVC play with a 76-61 win over UW-Parkside on Dec. 4 in Romeoville, Illinois before claiming a 60-46 win on Feb. 26 to cap off league play. The rivals met again in the opening round of the NCAA Division II Tournament on March 13 in Houghton, Michigan with Lewis advancing with an 80-66 victory.
 
About the Flyers: Nationally-ranked Lewis (11-1, 2-0 GLVC) heads to DeSimone Gymnasium riding a six-game win streak, including a pair of wins over East Division foes St. Joseph's and UIndy back in early December. The Flyers lone loss was a 71-63 decision to host Grand Valley State University back on Nov. 25. Since then, Lewis has ripped through the opposition, winning by at least a 12-point margin in each of the last six games, including an 81-60 thrashing of Cumberland University on Wednesday to cap off its non-conference slate. Against Cumberland, Mariyah Brawner-Henley and Jessica Kelliher provided a one-two punch for the hosts, both finishing with a double-double. Kelliher tallied a game-high 29 points and secured 12 rebounds while Brawner-Henley added 28 points and 12 boards, as the All-American became the program's all-time rebounding leader.
 
Brawner-Henley and Kelliher are the two main cogs in the Flyer offense, averaging 18.5 and 18.2 points per game, respectively good for the second and third best scoring averages in the GLVC. Brawner-Henley additionally leads the team on the glass, grabbing 10.8 rebounds per game while Kelliher secures 6.9 rpg along with a team-best 14 blocks. Alyssa Siwek joins Brawner-Henley and Kelliher as the only Flyer to start all 12 games this season. Siwek adds 9.1 points per game while distributing a team-best 4.3 assists per game.
 
As a team, Lewis leads the GLVC in several statistical categories including scoring offense (78.9 points per game), scoring margin (+20.6), field goal percentage (51.5 percent), and defensive rebounds (28.7 per game) while checking in at No. 2 in the conference in field goal defense (34.4 percent), three-point field goal percentage (43.2 percent), rebounding defense (30.7) and rebounding margin (+8.9).

National TV Exposure: The Rangers' doubleheader against GLVC rival Drury University on Saturday, Jan. 9 will be broadcast live nationwide on the American Sports Network and online through NCAA.com. To accommodate the national telecast, tipoff is getting pushed back to 5 p.m. Spectators in attendance will receive "White Out" T-shirts provided from Midwest Orthopedic Specialty Services at Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare - All Saints, the official sports medicine provider of the UW-Parkside athletic department. Additionally, the first 100 fans will get a RangerBear bobblehead doll.

Youth Day: UW-Parkside is hosting a Youth Day on Saturday, January 2, offering free admission to youth basketball players for the team's GLVC home opener against rival Lewis University. Youth in attendance will have a chance to meet the women's team and get autographs after the conclusion of the game. Teams and individuals interested in attending should contact assistant coach Dave Mentkowski at dmentkow@gmail.com. Free admission while wearing a youth basketball jersey will also be honored the next Saturday on Jan. 9 as the Rangers face Drury University at 5 p.m. in a nationally televised game on the American Sports Network.
 
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.
 
Time Zone Travelers: The barnstorming Rangers had a stretch of four games in four different time zones during the epic non-conference road swing. The streak began in Alaska, downing Sonoma State University 73-63 on Nov. 28 in the Alaskan Time Zone. The Rangers rolled the University of Indianapolis 68-61 on Dec. 3 in the Eastern Time Zone to open GLVC action before falling 67-63 to Saint Joseph's in UW-Parkside's native Central Time Zone on Dec. 5. The streak continued on Dec. 18 with the Rangers routing Concordia University Oregon 65-43 in the Pacific Time Zone at the Sodexo Tip-Off Classic in Seattle, Washington.

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).
 
Aerial Assault: Seniors Tara Knapstein and Kristin Conniff have both etched their names in the record book for their ability to shoot the three. Knapstein ranks eighth on the all-time list with 104 threes, sitting 16 shy of Jamie Nebel (1999-2003) in seventh place while Kristin Conniff sits just outside the top 10 in 11th with 87 career threes, just two shy of tying Ashley Ferguson (2003-2007) for 10th on the all-time list.

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 37-29.
 
Joining Yorg on the bench this season will be assistants Courtney Boyd, Dean Mlachnik, and Dave Mentkowski. 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. Mentkowski is also in his first tour of duty with the Parkside women's program.