PARKSIDE 84, DAVENPORT 79
On the night where senior Carolina Rahkonen scored her 1,000^th career point for Parkside women's basketball, she was also key in the Rangers comeback win over Davenport Thursday night at De Simone Gymnasium. Rahkonen finished with her first double-double of the season, scoring a game-high 24 points, one away from tying her career-high, and also grabbed 11 rebounds, which tied a career-high.
 
Rahkonen, a First Team All-GLIAC honoree last season, became the 16^th player in Parkside history to score 1,000 career points.
 
HEAR FROM COACH CONELY
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Davenport led for over 24:00 of the ball game, but after a high-scoring first quarter the Rangers held on to a 25-23 lead. Rahkonen had seven in the first quarter while the Rangers hit five triples and outrebounded the Panthers 14-6 in the opening quarter. In the second, Davenport took the early lead and held on to it for much of the quarter, pushing it to six points at the most. Taylor Stephen's last-second layup brought Parkside to a 45-43 deficit at the break.
 
In the third quarter, the teams traded the lead back-and-forth, with neither side leading by more than five points. After trailing for the first 7:00 of the fourth quarter, an Aina Cabrero Sinol layup and a Stephen 3-pointer gave Parkside the lead they wouldn't surrender.
 
A LOOK AT THE BOX SCORE
After Rahkonen's 24-and-11 line, Stephen finished with 17 points, nine rebounds and seven assists while Alyssa Nelson had 12 points and Alisha Murphy had 11. Claire Jakaitis hit a pair of 3-pointers off the bench and finished with 11 points.
 
Parkside finished +6 in rebounding and +2 in the turnover battle.
 
WHAT'S NEXT
The Rangers have a tough opponent next time out, as the team will host No. 3 Grand Valley State on Saturday, Feb. 1 at 1 p.m. for the finale of Pink Weekend. During halftime of the men's game, Parkside Athletics will host a teddy bear toss where all bears will be donated to children battling deadly diseases at Aurora hospitals. Fans are asked to either bring a new or lightly loved bear, or buy a Parkside teddy bear for $5 at the game.