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

Box Score

HOUGHTON, Mich. (Mar. 13, 2015)-- A 16-5 run midway through the second half sabotaged the University of Wisconsin-Parkside women's basketball squads potential upset bid of fourth-ranked Lewis University on Friday afternoon in the opening round of the NCAA Division II Tournament, stumbling 80-66 inside Michigan Tech University's SDC Gymnasium.
 
Four Rangers finished in double figures as the familiar foes battled through four lead changes and seven ties.
 
The second-seeded Flyers (29-2) owned a tenuous 50-49 lead with 10:53 after Gaby Bronson converted a layup before mounting a 16-5 run over the next six minutes to stake a 12-point lead. Lewis canned four threes during the outburst including back-to-back-to-back treys from Alexus Grayer.
 
Seventh-seeded UW-Parkside (22-8) refused to surrender, slicing the gap to just seven with 2:03 left, getting threes from Brittney Fair and Stephanie Furr but that was as close as the Green and White would get as the Flyers went on to secure the 14-point victory.

"We fought, we fought, and we fought, and some shots didn't go down. If they did it's a completely different game," said second year Head Coach Jacob Yorg. "I could never ask for a better group of girls to battle with."
 
Lewis collected the opening six points of the game but Parkside crawled back, netting the score at 15 off a Tara Knapstein three with 10:55 and staking a 20-16 lead off another Knapstein bomb, part of a 10-1 run. Lewis tallied the next six points to reclaim the lead and the next six minutes saw neither team lead by more than a possession. The game was deadlocked at 29 with 2:23 left before the Flyers ended the half on a 7-2 spurt, securing a 36-31 halftime advantage.
 
A Furr three with 17:08 left tied the game at 42 but the Flyers scored the next two buckets and never trailed the rest of the way.
 
Fair proved to be a spark off the bench, scoring 16 points while grabbing five rebounds and dishing out four assists. Bronson scored all her points in the second half, collecting 14 points along with a team-high seven assists while Furr had 13 points and nine rebounds. Knapstein was the third Ranger in double figures, coming off the bench and chipping in 10 points.
 
Jamie Johnson paced the Flyers with 26 points while Mariyah Brawner-Henley tacked on 14 points and 11 rebounds. Grayer had four threes and 14 points while Jess Reinhart added 13.
 
UW-Parkside enjoyed a 32-15 edge in bench points and had all four fast break points but we're hampered by 15 turnovers on the afternoon which turned into 14 points for the Flyers.
 
The Rangers completed the biggest single season turnaround in program history in 2014-2015, securing 14 more wins than last year. UW-Parkside was 8-18 in Head Coach Jacob Yorg's debut campaign in 2013-2014.
 
The game was the final curtain call for seniors Jennifer Blunt, Gaby Bronson, Maddie Johnston, and Sarah Mlachnik, with the class of 2015 compiling a 75-42 record over the past four years, including three trips to the NCAA Tournament.