Box Score

MOUNT VERNON, Iowa - Ripon's season-long five-game winning streak came to an end Saturday in a 69-38 loss to conference-leading Cornell College, who is ranked 21st in the latest NCAA Division-III Top 25 poll. The loss is Ripon's first against Cornell in five career meetings. Prior to Saturday's game, the teams hadn't faced each other since Cornell left the Midwest Conference after the 1996-97 season, before rejoining this season.

The Red Hawks (8-10, 7-6 MWC) never led in the game, but managed to remain within four points seven minutes into the contest. Cornell (17-1, 12-1 MWC) then took their game to another level, scoring 10 unanswered points, which was the beginning of a 19-7 run to end the half. Ripon managed to pull within seven points in the midst of that run on a jumper by Erin Lind with five minutes left in the half, but that would be as close as Ripon would get the rest of the day.

After Cornell scored the initial basket of the second half on a jumper by Camille Marie, the Rams led by at least 18 points for the rest of the game. Cornell shot 52 percent (15-29) in the second half, while converting 45 percent (27-60) of their field goals in the game. The Rams also turned the ball over just 10 times in the contest, while Ripon's four-game streak of 16 turnovers came to an end as they committed 22 miscues, which resulted in 21 Cornell points on Saturday.

Kacie Cullen led the Red Hawks with 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting, which included three 3-pointers. Jill Van Eperen added nine points and team-highs of seven rebounds, four assists and three steals, moving her into seventh in school history for single season steals with 58 on the season.

Cornell saw two players score in double figures, as Marie and Rikki Mulloy posted 20 and 14 points, respectively. Kellie Kuzmanic added eight points, five rebounds and three assists.

Ripon will try to rebound on Tuesday, as they'll host Carroll University, whom sits in fourth place in the MWC standings, just one-half game ahead of the Red Hawks. Tuesday's game will tip-off at 5:30 p.m. and can be seen live on http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/ripon.portal#.