Box Score

RIPON, Wis. - The Red Hawks earned a season sweep over Beloit College with a 67-63 victory over the Buccaneers Tuesday night. Ripon scored 20 points off 21 Beloit turnovers, while also recording twice as many offensive rebounds (14). The victory helps the Red Hawks keep pace with the upper echelon of the Midwest Conference, as they remain tied for fifth and  just one-half game out of fourth, with six games to play.

Against Beloit (3-13, 3-8 MWC), Ripon (8-9, 8-4 MWC) fell behind early and never held the lead in the first half. The Red Hawks, who didn't score until four minutes into the game, trailed by nine with 10 minutes left in the period and by 11 with five minutes to play. That's when their offense started to click, ending the half on a 14-4 run, keyed by six points in that span from freshman Maddie Koster.

Trailing 27-26 at the break, Ripon's offense continued to roll at the start of the second half. They grabbed their first lead of the game on a Nicole Herkert layup, which was part of an 11-4 run to start the period, giving the Red Hawks a six point advantage with 15 and a half minutes remaining. Ripon wouldn's trail the rest of the night, but Beloit didn't make things easy. The Buccaneers made all five of their 3-pointers in the second half, the last one of which came from Lauren McNanna to tie the game at 63 with 11 seconds to play. Just when it looked like the two teams were destined for overtime, Morgan Johnson converted one of the biggest baskets of her career and her only points of the night, scoring on a layup with three seconds remaining to give the Red Hawks the victory.

Jill VanEperen led all scorers with 23 points, to go along with team-highs of eight rebounds, five assists and five steals. Sia Gonyo added 12 points, five rebounds and five assists, while Herkert posted 11 points and five rebounds.

McNanna finished with 22 points, 20 of which came in the second half, as she went over 1,000 career points while single-handedly keeping Beloit in the game with four big 3-pointers. Nora Polaski added 11 points off the bench, while Jenna Larsen and Lana Wieseman added 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Ripon will be in action again on Wednesday, February 5 against Carroll University. That game will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Ripon and can be seen live on http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/ripon.portal. That game will also be Ripon's annual "Play For The Cure" event in which fans are encouraged to make donations and wear pink to raise awareness for cancer.