PARKSIDE 72, NORTHERN MICHIGAN 64
The Rangers welcomed a tough Northern Michigan team into DeSimone on Thursday night and Parkside was able to come out on top, defending the den. The Rangers improved their record to .500 as they finish out January play. NMU came into Thursday night's game at 14-5 and 9-2 in GLIAC play, good for the top spot in the GLIAC North. Junior Carolina Rahkonen led the team with 19 points and seven rebounds.

HEAR FROM COACH CONELY

"I'm really pleased with our team's performance," first year head coach Jen Conely said. " It was a great win over a tough NMU team. I think this was our most competitive game to date."

"Defensively, I thought we did a great job executing our game plan and made them make some tough shots," Conely stated. "I love seeing the balanced scoring and I thought we were really patient and had multiple players step up and make big plays throughout the game."

"I'm excited about our win and we look forward to our Pink Out game against Michigan Tech on Saturday," Conely concluded.

FIRST HALF

NMU got on the board first but junior Carolina Rahkonen answered with a jumper of her own. After a 3-pointer by redshirt-senior Blair Arthur, the Rangers were held from scoring until 3:38 when Arthur made another basket from beyond the arc, making the score 11-8 NMU. Parkside trailed the Wildcats all quarter until Rahkonen tied the game at 15's at 1:15. The Rangers took the lead with :41 seconds remaining as freshman Alyssa Nelson drained a 3-point basket. Parkside held NMU scoreless from the 2:37 mark through midway of the second quarter, continuing an 18-0 run from the first quarter and growing the Rangers lead by 13 for a score of 28-15. Parkside held NMU to six points in the second quarter while scoring 14. The remainder of the quarter, the teams went even with a score of 31-21 at halftime.

SECOND HALF

As the second half started, the Wildcats tried to close the gap between themselves and the Rangers, but Parkside stayed tough, never letting NMU within striking distance the rest of the way. In the final quarter, Parkside went 8-for-11 from free throws.

STATWORTHY

Rahkonen paced the Rangers with 19 points and seven rebounds to help propel Parkside over NMU. Graduate student Ali Bettencourt finished with 16 points followed by Arthur with 14 and six rebounds. Redshirt-junior Taylor Stephen led the team with five assists. The Rangers scored 19 points off of 17 NMU turnovers.

FROM THE ARCHIVES
This Parkside win ends a 17-game losing streak to the Wildcats as the last time the Rangers beat NMU was in the 1983-84 season. That game was held in DeSimone as well when Parkside was victorious with a score of 70-60.

WHAT'S NEXT

The Rangers' host Michigan Tech on Saturday, Feb. 2nd at 1 p.m. This will be Parkside's Pink Out Breast Cancer Awareness Day sponsored by Aurora Health Care. The first 400 fans in attendance (starting at noon) will receive a free pink t-shirt along with all Aurora employees receiving free admission to the game.