Box Score

RIPON, Wis. - The Ripon College women's basketball team proved Wednesday night that it could compete with the elite teams in the Midwest Conference, keeping the score close against MWC-leading Monmouth College, before losing 56-51. The Red Hawks shot 37 percent (20-54) in the game, but converted just 15 percent (2-13) of their 3-pointers and were undone by their free throw shooting where they made 56 percent (9-16) of their shots.

Ripon (3-6, 2-4 MWC) never led in the game, but never trailed by more than seven in the first half. With Monmouth (10-0, 6-0 MWC) leading by one with 13 minutes left in the opening period, the Fighting Scots went on an 11-5 run to take a seven-point advantage in the final minutes of the half. Jill Van Eperen pulled the Red Hawks to within five at halftiime when she converted a putback basket at the buzzer.

Ripon pulled within two points with 13 minutes to play in the game on a basket by freshman Morgan Johnson. That was followed by a 19-11 Monmouth run to give the Fighting Scots their largest lead of 10 points with five minutes remaining. Trailing by eight points with less than two minutes to play, Ripon showed what they were made of, cutting the lead to three with 12 seconds left on a pair of Sia Gonyo baskets. Monmouth then put the game away with a pair of free throws in the final 10 seconds.

Van Eperen led the Red Hawks with 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting, to go along with five rebounds and three assists. Gonyo finished with 10 points, while Erin Lind scored eight, while recording team-highs of 10 rebounds and four assists.

Monmouth shot 41 percent (19-46) from the field. They saw four players score in double figures, led by Colleen Forrest's 13 points, which included a 3-for-5 performance from 3-point range. Paige Nord added 12 points, six rebounds and three steals, while Kaley Corban and Zipporah Williams scored 11 and 10 points, respectively, on a combined 8-for-16 shooting.

Next up for the Red Hawks will be a tough task of playing back-to-back games against Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) opponents at next week's Wisconsin Dells Tournament. They will face UW-LaCrosse on December 27 at 5:30 p.m., before battling UW-Stevens Point on December 28 at 7:30 p.m.