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ASHLAND, Ohio-  After trailing the majority of the second half, the 17th-ranked Wisconsin-Parkside women's basketball team used a late 14-0 run to surge past UIndy, 73-66, in the first round of the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional Friday afternoon.

"It's a disappointing loss," said UIndy Head Coach Constantin Popa, "but we fought hard.  I'm happy with the way our players fought and overall I'm just happy with the way the season went.  Obviously, you want to go as far as you can go in the tournament, and unfortunately this was it for us, but I think we had a good season."

The sixth-seeded Greyhounds (19-11) earned a 38-37 edge at the break and held the lead for nearly 15 minutes in the second half.  The UIndy offense went cold late, however, as the regional's No. 3 seed ran off 14 unanswered points to go up 67-58 with three-and-a-half minutes to go.

"I told the team right off the bat that this is going to be a game of runs," said Popa.  "It'll take all 40 minutes for us to win the game.  It won't be only 30 minutes or 35 minutes."

The run was fueled by UWP senior Jadee Rooney, as the second-team all-region performer scored every one of her game-high 19 points in the final 13 minutes.

"We shut down their main scorers for most of the game," Popa said, "but eventually Rooney was able to take over the game and unfortunately we could not stop her towards the end.

"Parkside is a pretty good team with a lot of experience.  They've been here (in the NCAAs) before.  There are a bunch of seniors on the team, and I think towards the end of the game, that's where that experience came into play."

Though reeling a bit and running out of time, the Greyhounds would manage to dust themselves off and fight back.  The Hounds got a big three from Nickole Gonser at the 2:58 mark to quell the Parkside rally, and continued to scrap to make it a one-possession game with just over a minute left.

But with the score 67-64 Parkside, the Greyhounds mustered just one basket in the final 60 seconds, while the Rangers (23-5) knocked down their free throws to ensure the win.

After shooting less than 40 percent from the floor in the two previous meetings, including a disappointing 6 for 40 (.150) from behind the arc, the Greyhounds looked to shake the shooting woes that plagued them in the two regular season match-ups with Parkside.

Things went as planned in the opening 20 minutes, as the Hounds used effective dribble penetration to generate some easy shots.  Sophomore Katy McIntosh was the biggest aggressor, as she finished the first half with 13 points – 10 of which came in the paint.

Junior Kristin Turner also put up 13 by the break, as the Greyhounds went 14-for-29 (.483) from the field in the first half.

Senior Megan Gardner opened the second half by nailing a corner three.  Later, back-to-back triples from Gardner and Walter pushed the lead to 51-43 with 13 minutes to go.

That's when the vetern Rangers made their push.

"(Parkside) had a good game plan in the second half," commented Popa.  "We couldn't get much going on offense. We became way too passive and we can't do that.  You have to be really aggressive at both ends and play with the same intensity the whole game.

"But give Parkside credit.  They followed their game plan and were able to shut us down a little bit."

Coach Popa also pointed to the Hounds' shot selection in the second half.

"We didn't get to the free throw line enough," said the first-year head man, "and that's going to happen when you shoot 30 3-pointers.  That's why we need to learn how to manage the game and be patient.  You can always get those open threes, but if you're a little more patient, you can get better shots by taking advantage of certain situations and finding the mismatches."

Three Greyhounds finished in double figures, with Turner scoring 15, followed by McIntosh's 14 and Gonser's 10.  In addition, Turner set a new program record for 3-pointers made in a season (76), while also tying the school's record for most points in a season (581).

Junior Sydney Weinert returned from injury to see her first action in three weeks, as she chipped in eight points and a block in 15 minutes of work.

"Again, it was a tough loss," said Popa, "but on the bright side, we were one of only 64 teams left that was still playing today.  There's only going to be one team that's happy at the end, and unless you win the whole thing, it's painful anytime you lose.

"Hopefully, we can learn some lessons from today, both as players and as coaches, and we'll just move forward."

Friday also marked the final collegiate game for Gardner.  Despite knee issues cutting into her sophomore and junior seasons, the Indianapolis native and Bishop Chatard grad played in a total of 80 games in a Greyhound uniform, with the team compiling a 53-27 (.663) record in those contests.

A major contributor on two NCAA Tournament teams, Gardner made 63 3-pointers for the Hounds, good for 16th on UIndy's all-time career list.