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

Box Score

SAINT CHARLES, Mo. (Mar. 7, 2015)-- Despite holding a lead for a majority of the contest, the University of Wisconsin-Parkside women's basketball team was unable to put away eighth-ranked Drury University on Saturday evening, falling 70-66 in a Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament Semifinal game at Family Arena.

The fourth-seeded Rangers (22-7) held the lead for 35 of the 40 minutes played while Gaby Bronson surpassed the 1,000-point barrier in her career with a 19-point outing to pace the squad.

Top-seeded and GLVC West Division Champion Drury (25-3) seized the lead for good with 2:12 reaming on a Sanayika Shields layup, part of a 7-0 Panther run. A Bronson basket with 38 seconds left closed the Rangers within a possession but Drury hit a pair of free throws to extend its lead back up to five. A Stephanie Furr bucket again brought the Rangers within a score with 30 ticks left but the Rangers were unable to come any closer as DU held on for the four-point win to advance to tomorrow's GLVC Championship Game.

Jennifer Blunt tallied the game's opening four points as the Rangers scored the game's opening six points. The Panthers tied the game on a pair of three-pointers before UW-Parkside scored 13 of the next 16 points to secure a 19-9 advantage with 13:05 left in the first half. Tara Knapstein scored eight of the Rangers' 13 points during the scoring surge, hitting two treys during the stretch.
 
Drury scored seven consecutive points to slice the Rangers advantage to just three points with 8:36 left and seized its first lead of the evening with 3:13 left off an Armstrong three, giving the Panthers the 31-29 edge. A Jessica Prince bucket gave the lead back to Parkside but Armstrong converted a layup with 12 seconds left as the Panthers took a 34-33 advantage into the locker room at half.
 
The Rangers reclaimed the lead to open the second half as Gaby Bronson and Kristin Conniff each canned a three, giving UW-Parkside the 39-34 lead with 18:37 left in the contest. UW-Parkside led by six with 4:41 left but the Panthers netted 13 of the next 15 points to capture the lead for good.

Bronson paced the Rangers with 19 points, shattering the 1,000-point barrier on a free throw with 16 seconds left. The senior was seven-for-13 from the floor and dished out seven assists and now sits with 1,001 career points with Parkside. Knapstein came off the bench and collected 12 points while Jennifer Blunt chipped in 10. Jessica Prince led the team on the boards, grabbing nine rebounds.

Shields led all scorers with 22 points while securing seven rebounds for Drury while Armstrong tacked on 20 points.

UW-Parkside shot 50.9 percent (27-for-53) of its shots from the floor and outscored the Drury bench by a 20-9 margin but was unhinged by 23 turnovers on the night.
 
The Rangers will discover their NCAA fate on Sunday night with the 64-team field unveiled on NCAA.com at 9 p.m.