INDIANAPOLIS – The University of Indianapolis women's basketball team opened up Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) play on Thursday night against the Rangers of Wisconsin-Parkside inside Nicoson Hall.
 
The Greyhounds fell behind by double-figures early before clawing their way back to even in the second half. But the Hounds were unable to pull in front of the Rangers down the stretch in a 68-61 defeat.
 
Junior Nicole Anderson had a season-high 22 points on 10 of 12 shooting for the Greyhounds (1-8) and Princess German scored 15 of her 17 points in the second half to spark a rally. Ultimately, 21 UIndy turnovers proved to be too much to overcome as the Rangers (5-2) took advantage with 25 points off Greyhound mistakes.
 
"It's always difficult when you dig yourself a hole and you have to get out of it" Head coach Constantin Popa said. "The game just isn't the same, you're running after people and you're playing a different game than you'd like to just to get back in it. We need to understand that we can't put ourselves in that position. We played a couple good quarters and gave ourselves a chance to win. But a slow start and a few costly turnovers will always put you at a disadvantage and it did tonight."

Click the play button above to hear all of Popa's post-game interview.
 
Both teams traded a pair of buckets to open the game with the Greyhound defense recording three rejections in the opening 2:30 before Parkside's Kristin Conniff took over on the offensive end. Conniff scored 11 straight points in a 15-2 Ranger run that made it 19-6 with 4:18 left in the first quarter.
 
The Greyhound defense responded by not only shutting down Conniff, but the entire Parkside offense for the rest of the quarter, going on a 10-2 run to cut the lead to 21-16 with 6:23 to play in the second quarter.
 
After being held scoreless for more than six minutes, the Rangers would hold off the Hounds' push before the half ended and took a 31-25 advantage into the locker room.
 
Both teams came out red-hot from the floor in the third quarter. The Hounds connected on their first five shots of the second half while Parkside opened the third by connecting on their first three attempts from long range.
 
Trailing 40-34 with 7:21 left in the third, German scored nine of the Hounds' next 10 points to tie the game at 44 with 1:45 left in the period. Parkside answered with five straight before Tina Negoescu closed out the quarter with a buzzer-beating layup to make it 49-46 after 30 minutes.
 
German opened up the scoring in the fourth quarter with a layup to cut the lead to one, but a quick 8-0 Ranger run made it 57-49 with five minutes to play. The Hounds would get within four after a Sarah Costello triple with 51 seconds to play, but Parkside was able to close out the win at the free throw line.
 
The Hounds shot a season-best 50.9 percent (27-for-53) from the floor, outscoring the Rangers in the paint, 38-14. Conniff had a game-high 24 points for a Rangers team that shot 39.3 percent (24-for-61) on the night. The Rangers' long range attack played a major part in helping Parkside come out on top as the Rangers shot 9-for-26 from deep as opposed to 1-for-10 for the Greyhounds.
 
Rebounds were 35-30 in favor of UIndy with Costello's seven leading all Greyhounds and matching a career high. Anderson had six board, as did Ashley Montanez, who set a new career-high with four blocked shots on the night.
 
The Greyhounds will wrap up the opening weekend of GLVC play on Saturday afternoon, when they welcome the No. 7 ranked Flyers of Lewis University to Nicoson Hall. Tip-off is set for 1:00 p.m.