Parkside 70, UCCS 62

After a stellar performance by redshirt-senior Blair Arthur who had a career-high 30 points, complimented by 25 out of 26 made free throws by the team as a whole, the Rangers were able to gain the advantage over the Mountain Lions from University of Colorado-Colorado Springs (UCCS).

HEAR FROM COACH CONELY

"After eight days off, it was nice to start the second half of the season with a tough road win," first year head coach Jen Conely said. "We really picked up the intensity in practice and I thought that today's game was one of our most disciplined games defensively."

"We made some adjustments throughout the game and I was glad to see that they were able to make some immediate changes that resulted in creating tougher shots or turnovers for UCCS," Conely added. "We were able to get big stops when we needed to."

FIRST HALF

The Mountain Lions got on the board first quickly followed by a 3-pointer by senior Asiah Lawson. UCCS went on a 7-0 run which ended with another 3-pointer by Lawson. At 5:34, the deficit had grown to 12-6 with the Mountain Lions on top, but after graduate student Ali Bettencourt, who was fouled beyond the arc, made all three free throws, the score became 12-9. Arthur tied the game at 12-12 at 2:55 and the game was back-and-forth until the final seconds of the first period when a UCCS free throw put the Mountain Lions up 21-19. The second period was split between both teams, and Parkside had the opportunity to take the lead going into halftime, but in the final :07, UCCS scored a deciding layup, putting the Mountain Lions up 33-32 over the Rangers.

SECOND HALF

The Rangers went back-and-forth with the Mountain Lions the entirety of the third period, which ended with Parkside taking the lead thanks to three made free throws from Arthur with :38 remaining, bringing the score to 52-49. The fourth period started off neck-to-neck as UCCS was able to tie the game at 7:43 at 55 points each. The Rangers went on a 4-0 run which came only from free throws that grew the score to 66-59. The Mountain Lions scored once more with 1:35 remaining and Parkside finished with another 4-0 run to finish the second half with a score of 70-62.

STATWORHTY

Arthur had a career-high and team-high 30 points along with going 9-9 from the free throw line which is another season-high for the Rangers. Arthur went 50-percent from the floor and .55 from beyond the arc. Following Arthur, both Bettencourt and junior Carolina Rahkonen had 11 points in their first game back after lingering injuries kept them on the bench. Senior Georgie Eishold led the team with a career-high seven rebounds followed by redshirt-junior Taylor Stephen and freshman Hannah Plockelman with six each.  Stephen also contributed five assists. The Rangers went 25-26 from the free throw line, also a team season-high.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

"This was a total team effort and I thought everyone made big plays," Conely continued. "Obviously Blair played really well and is capable of doing a lot of special things for us. We are looking forward to our game tomorrow against Western State."

WHAT'S NEXT

The Rangers will close out 2018 with one final game against Western State tomorrow, Dec. 30 at 2 p.m. The game will take place at UCCS. Parkside will return home on Jan. 3 as GLIAC play resumes against Northwood at 5:30 p.m.