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

SOMERS, Wis. (Feb. 3, 2016)-- The University of Wisconsin-Parkside women's basketball team unpacks its bags for the week, returning to DeSimone Gymnasium and resuming interdivisional play against a pair of Great Lakes Valley Conference squads from Kansas City.
 
The Rangers host William Jewell College on Thursday night before welcoming Rockhurst University to DeSimone on Saturday for Alumni Day. Thursday's tilt is slated for 5:30 p.m. with the Rockhurst game set for a 1 p.m. start. Live stats, video, and audio of both games will be available at parksiderangers.com.
 
About the Rangers: UW-Parkside (12-7, 6-5 GLVC) split a pair of GLVC games for the third straight week, dropping a 44-43 heartbreaker to McKendree University on Jan. 28 before cruising by the University of Illinois Springfield 70-53 on Saturday.
 
Against McKendree, the game was deadlocked after three quarters before the Rangers opened the fourth on a 7-0 run to seize the lead. The Bearcats crawled back and retook the lead on a pair of free throws with 11 seconds left. Stephanie Furr put the visitors back on top, hitting a jumper with 2.6 seconds left before McKendree's Jordan Morton provided the dagger, hitting the game-winner with 0.2 ticks left.
 
Furr finished with a team-best 14 points with Rani Singh adding 11 as the Rangers were held to their lowest offensive output of the season.
 
Against Illinois Springfield, UW-Parkside led wire-to-wire, accumulating nine of the first 11 points and owning a 40-21 edge after 20 minutes of play in the 17-point win.
 
12 of the 13 Rangers seeing the floor scored points including Kristin Conniff who poured on 19 points, shooting eight-for-12 from the field.
 
Three Rangers head into Thursday's clash averaging in double figures, led by Furr who chips in 12.4 points per game. The senior additionally adds 6.0 rebounds per game and 2.5 assists per game. Conniff averages 12.3 ppg with a team-best 32 three-pointers while Tara Knapstein offers 10.2 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 3.0 apg, and a team-high 24 steals. Jessica Prince leads the Rangers on the glass, securing 6.4 rpg while Shelby Cheston ranks seventh in the conference with a team-high 23 blocks.
 
UW-Parkside sits tied for first in the GLVC in free throw percentage, connecting on 76.1 percent of attempts while sitting third in rebounding margin (+5.4) and offensive rebounds (13.53). The Green and White additionally register fourth in assist to turnover ratio (0.98) and three-pointers made (6.68 per game).
 
Feb. 4 vs. William Jewell College at DeSimone Gymnasium (Live Stats)(Video)(Audio)
 
Series History: UW-Parkside and William Jewell have met just three times on the hardwood with the Cardinals owning a 2-1 lead in the all-time series. The Rangers collected their first win of the series last season, emerging from the Mabee Center in Liberty, Missouri with a 67-54 victory on Feb. 7, 2015. Jewell is in just its fifth season as a member of NCAA Division II, having been a longtime member of the NAIA and the Heart of America Athletic Conference.
 
About the Cardinals: William Jewell (9-13, 4-7 GLVC) continues its longest road trip of the season this week and heads to Wisconsin riding a two-game win streak. Adriana Rodriquez provided some late game heroics on Jan. 28, giving the Cardinals the 50-48 win over host University of Missouri-Saint Louis before stomping Maryville University 75-62 two days later.
 
Against UMSL, Rodriguez hit a layup at the buzzer to give the Cardinals the win in a back and forth battle with seven lead changes and 10 ties. Maddie Nelson powered the WJC offense, scoring 14 points.
 
Two days later against Maryville, it was a huge fourth quarter that propelled the Cardinals to the win. Jewell outscored the host Saints by a 30-12 margin the final 10 minutes, turning a five-point deficit into a 13-point victory. Zinka Duric was one of four Cardinals in double figures, posting a team-high 17 points and giving the visitors their first GLVC weekend sweep of the season.
 
Nelson leads the Cardinals in several statistical categories, offering 11.2 points per game, 7.2 rebounds per game, and 4.6 assists per game. Blair Klostermann tallied 9.2 ppg and 4.8 rpg while Madison Campbell chips in 8.4 ppg and 4.8 rpg.
 
William Jewell sits atop the GLVC in rebounding offense, securing 40.5 rebounds per game but struggles shooting from the floor, ranking last in the conference in field goal percentage (36.7 percent).
 
Feb. 6 vs. Rockhurst University at DeSimone Gymnasium (Live Stats)(Video)(Audio)
 
Series History: UW-Parkside has utterly dominated the all-time series, winning all nine meetings. Last season the Rangers downed the host Hawks 70-51 inside Mason-Halpin Field House in Kansas City on Feb. 5, 2015.
 
About the Hawks: Rockhurst (12-7, 5-6 GLVC) heads into Thursday's tilt with Lewis University having won two of its last three games. The Hawks edged Missouri University S&T 60-59 on Jan. 23 before falling 68-62 to Maryville on Jan. 28. RU rebounded on Saturday, closing its tour of Saint Louis with a 66-63 decision over UMSL.
 
Against Missouri S&T, Jillian Myers played the role of hero, collecting a steal in the final seconds to gove the Hawks the one-point win. Against Maryville, RU's Mary Dineen had 26 points while Lauren Meyers had 13 points and 11 boards but it was not enough as the Saints made 25 trips to the free throw line, sinking 21 for the six point win. On Saturday it was Dineen again with a big game, pacing all scorers with 25 points for another razor thin win. Rockhurst hit its final five free throws of the game, including a pair from Dineen with seven seconds left to preserve the victory.
 
Dineen leads the Hawks averaging 18.0 points per game. Lauren Meyers adds 11.6 ppg and 5.9 rebounds per game with Marisa Lowe chipping in 10.0 ppg. Jillian Myers leads the GLVC in steals, averaging 3.0 per game while Haleigh Cindrich is second in the conference in blocks with 1.74 per game.
 
Rockhurst leads the league in blocks with 4.79 per game and three-pointers made (8.89) while sitting second in turnover margin (+3.16) and third in the GLVC in free throw percentage (75.7 percent) and assist to turnover ratio (1.00).
 
National Stat Rankings: UW-Parkside sits 22nd in the nation in free throw percentage, connecting on 76.1 percent of attempts (213-for-280) this season.
 
Knap Time: Tara Knapstein became the 17th Ranger to collect 1,000 career points on Jan. 23 in UW-Parkside's victory over the University of Southern Indiana. Knapstein tallied point number 1,000 on a layup in the third quarter and ended the game with 1,002 career points. The senior is second Ranger to do so in the Jacob Yorg era, joining Gaby Bronson who finished her career last season with 1,015 total points.
 
Perfect at the Line Part 2: UW-Parkside's 13-for-13 shooting performance at the free throw line in Saturday's win over Illinois Springfield was the second perfect outing for the Rangers at the line this season. Just seven days prior, the Green and White posted a 14-for-14 effort at the charity stripe in a 72-60 victory over the University of Southern Indiana. Prior to USI, the Rangers last perfect effort at the line was on Jan. 28, 2012 with UW-Parkside downing the University of Indianapolis 73-70 behind a 13-for-13 performance at the charity stripe. All told, it is the eighth time since the start of the 2007-2008 season the Rangers have been perfect at the line, including a 16-for-16 effort in a GLVC Tournament setback to Missouri University S&T on Mar. 6, 2009.
 
Weekend Warriors: UW-Parkside has split its GLVC games in each of the last three weeks. In each week, the Rangers dropped the Thursday night game only to rebound with a double-digit win on Saturday. Parkside has owned leads in all three Thursday games and have dropped the trio of midweek showdowns by a combined nine points, including a pair of contests decided in the final seconds. UW-Parkside has won by an average margin of 14 points over the past three Saturdays while winning four consecutive Saturday showdowns, including a 54-48 win over #6 Drury University on Jan. 9.
 
Nike Camp: The UW-Parkside women's basketball program will host the 2016 Nike Camp on July 10-13 for girls ages eight to 16. The camp is the only Nike Camp in Wisconsin for girls and will feature a camper to instructor ratio of 8-to-1. More information can be found at parksiderangers.com/camps.

Mix-and-Match: 12 different Rangers have earned starts this season as the squad has utilized 10 unique starting lineups over the course of the 19 games this season. Kristin Conniff and Jessica Prince have been the most consistent faces in the starting five, both making 16 starts this season while freshman point guard Taylor Stephen has made 14 starts.

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 112 threes, sitting eight shy of Jamie Nebel (1999-2003) in seventh place while Kristin Conniff sits ninth with 98 career threes, 14 shy of Knapstein and 22 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 77 of their last 92 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 a nationally-televised victory over #6 Drury University on Jan. 9.
 
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 42-33.
 
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.