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

SOMERS, Wis. (Jan. 13, 2016)-- The University of Wisconsin-Parkside women's basketball team continues interdivisional play this week, heading south and crossing the Mississippi River to face Great Lakes Valley Conference West Division rivals University of Missouri-Saint Louis and Maryville University.
 
The Rangers take on UMSL on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. before closing the Saint Louis road swing on Saturday with a 1 p.m. showdown with Maryville. Live stats, video, and audio will be provided for both games.
 
About the Rangers: UW-Parkside (9-4, 3-2 GLVC) hits the road after winning a pair of games last week, overwhelming Missouri University S&T 62-53 on Jan. 7 before knocking off sixth-ranked Drury University 54-48 on Saturday in a nationally-televised contest on the American Sports Network.
 
Against S&T, Tara Knapstein was nearly unstoppable, coming off the bench and scoring 19 points while adding six boards as the Rangers who grabbed a lead three minutes into the game and never looked back en route to the nine-point decision. Kristin Conniff laid on 11 points while Jessica Prince and Brittney Fair both added 10, including seven boards from Prince.
 
On Saturday against the sixth-ranked Panthers a 27-1 scoring frenzy spanning two halves proved to be more than enough for the hosts, collecting the program's first victory over a top 10 team since a 50-47 win over then No. 6 Washburn University on Dec. 19, 2012.
 
Stephanie Furr ignited the run, scoring the final six points of the first half while Kristin Conniff opened the third period with a three-point play. The Ranger defense generated eight Drury turnovers and 11 consecutive misses from the field, turning an 11-point hole into a 15-point advantage. DU attempted one final lunge in the fourth, pulling within five on several occasions but was unable to come any closer.
 
Conniff finished the contest with 15 points while Furr added 12 points and nine rebounds off the bench.
 
Three Rangers head into Thursday's clash averaging in double figures, including Conniff who leads the way with a 13.6 points per game average. The senior additionally leads the team from beyond the arc, hitting 28 threes in 2015-2016 while shooting at a 41.8 percent clip from distance. Furr adds 10.7 ppg and 5.7 rebounds per game while Knapstein offers 10.6 ppg, 5.0 rpg and a team-best 21 steals. Jessica Prince grabs a team-best 5.9 rebounds per game while Shelby Cheston has a team-high 13 blocks.
 
As a team, UW-Parkside ranks third in the GLVC in rebounding margin (+5.8) and three-point field goals made (7.15 per game) while sitting fourth in the 16-team circuit in free throw percentage (75.4 percent).
 
Jan. 14 vs. University of Missouri-Saint Louis at Mark Twain Building (Live Stats)(Video)(Audio)
 
Series History: The Rangers and Tritons have clashed 27 times on the hardwood with Parkside owning a 17-10 edge in the all-time series. UW-Parkside claimed last year's meeting, securing a 76-68 victory on Jan. 10 inside DeSimone Gymnasium.
 
About the Tritons: Missouri-Saint Louis (6-7, 1-4 GLVC) heads into Thursday looking to snap a two-game slide. UMSL opened the 2016 calendar year with a 61-60 double overtime victory over Truman State University on Jan. 2 before suffering a pair of setbacks in Indiana last week. The Tritons fell 75-71 to Saint Joseph's College on Jan. 7, snapping a three-game win streak before getting rolled 64-55 by the University of Indianapolis on Saturday.
 
Against St. Joe's, Jordan Fletcher poured on a then career-high 22 points but a 13-2 Puma run in the fourth period ultimately sabotaged the visiting Tritons in the four-point setback.
 
Fletcher continued to be a one woman wrecking crew in Indiana, piling on 31 points against UIndy on Saturday in the losing effort. UMSL took a 51-49 lead with 6:49 left in the game on a Kelly Kunkel layup but the host Hounds closed the game on a 15-4 run to secure the victory.
 
Kunkel is the lone Triton averaging in double figures, chipping in 12.1 points per game while adding 5.2 rebounds per game. Fletcher adds 9.8 ppg and 4.4 rpg and sits second in the GLVC in field goal percentage (63.3 percent) while Robneisha Lee has a 9.5 ppg average. Sydney Bloch is the squad's leading distributer with 3.5 assists per game to go along with her 8.7 ppg average and team-best 30 steals. The foursome of Kunkel, Fletcher, Lee, and Bloch have started all 13 games this season.
 
Jan. 16 vs. Maryville University at Moloney Arena (Live Stats)(Video)(Audio)
 
Series History: The Rangers and Saints have met five times since the series began in 2009-2010 with the Green and White holding a slim 3-2 edge in the series. Last season UW-Parkside pummeled the visiting Saints 92-62 on Jan. 8 inside DeSimone Gymnasium with the hosts utilizing a 19-0 run early in the first half to take control of the game.
 
About the Saints: Maryville (8-4, 2-3 GLVC) heads into Thursday's battle with Lewis having won three of its last four games. The Saints' recent run began in California, securing a 70-55 win over Holy Names University on Dec. 19 before topping Sonoma State University 71-56 the following day. Maryville resumed GLVC play on Jan. 7, netting an 82-74 win over host UIndy before suffering an 82-70 setback at the hands of Saint Joseph's on Saturday.
 
Ali Ringering paced Maryville against UIndy, scoring 24 points as the Saints collected the win in a see-saw affair featuring eight lead changes and one tie. Two days later against Saint Joe's, the homestanding Pumas built a 25-18 lead after one quarter of play and never looked back, cruising to the 12-point win and snapping MU's three-game win streak.
 
Four Saints average in double figures led by Alex Hillyer who averages 15.3 points per game, 8.2 rebounds per game with a team-high 22 blocks. Ringering adds 12.2 ppg while Alex Wolf chips in 10.4 ppg and a team-high 8.4 rpg. Stephanie Sherwood is the fourth Saint in double figures with a 10.2 ppg average.
 
Maryville checks in at second in the GLVC in both free throw percentage (76.5 percent) and offensive rebounds (14.83 per game) and sits third in scoring offense with a 73.6 ppg average.
 
Road Warriors: Heavy travel during the non-conference slate, a staple of Head Coach Jacob Yorg, continued this season with 11 of the first 12 games being played at neutral sites or on the road. The season-opening barnstorming tour featured 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 played 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 106 threes, sitting 14 shy of Jamie Nebel (1999-2003) in seventh place while Kristin Conniff sits ninth with 94 career threes, 12 shy of Knapstein and 26 short of Nebel.

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 76 of their last 90 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. In addition, the Rangers have knocked off four nationally-ranked teams inside DeSimone Gymnasium since the 2012-2013 season, including Saturday's victory over #6 Drury University.
 
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 39-30.
 
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.