#11 ASHLAND 70, PARKSIDE 60

The Rangers stayed neck-and-neck with the No. 11 Ashland Eagles as the team kept the deficit to 10 points. Ashland has won 16 of its last 17 games. For the second straight game, redshirt-senior Shelby Cheston led Parkside in points with 16 and a season-high nine rebounds. Cheston went 8-for-11 from the floor.

HEAR FROM COACH CONELY

"I'm really proud of our team's effort and execution of our game plan," first year head coach Jen Conely said. "I thought we did a great job of slowing them down in transition and forcing them to play in the half court."

"Everything was pretty even with the exception of outside shooting," Conely stated. "I thought we did a great job keeping our composure when they went on a run and were able to counter with a run of our own."

"It was not the outcome we wanted, but we've made big strides since the last time we played them and we are looking forward to continuing to get better every day," Conely added.

FIRST HALF

To start the first half, the Eagles got on the board first with a 3-point basket but that was answered with a 3-point play by graduate student Ali Bettencourt. Following a miss by Ashland, the Rangers took their only lead of the game briefly at 7:40 after a layup from junior Carolina Rahkonen making the score 5-3. By 7:07, the Eagles had regained the lead thanks to a 7-0 run, which they would keep for the rest of the game. This ended on a layup from Cheston at 4:55 with a score of 10-7. The first quarter finished out even for both teams, ending with a score of 19-12. Both teams went back-and-forth in the second quarter with Ashland growing the lead to 12 points at most, but Parkside was able to shrink their lead to 10 points as the quarter expired with a score of 35-25.

SECOND HALF

The teams split the third quarter ending with a score of 50-41. The fourth quarter started with a 8-0 run by the Eagles which ended 3-pointer by Rahkonen, making the score 58-44 at 5:14. The greatest lead Ashland had in the fourth quarter was 13 points, but the Rangers closed the deficit to 10 points as the game ended with a score of 70-60.

STATWORTHY

Cheston led the Rangers with 16 points and a season-high nine rebounds followed by Rahkonen with 13 points and redshirt-senior Blair Arthur with 12 points. Redshirt-junior Taylor Stephen led the team in assists with five and trailed Cheston with six rebounds.

WHAT'S NEXT

The Rangers will return to DeSimone this upcoming weekend to host Lake Superior State on Thursday, Feb. 21 and Ferris State on Feb. 23. On the 21st, Parkside will host Retro Night along with Academic Recognition and Faculty/Staff Appreciation Night presented by Chick-Fil-A. On Saturday, the game is a white-out presented by Goodwill, along with senior night for the team's seven seniors.