DE PERE, Wis. - Defending Midwest Conference Champion St. Norbert College led for all but one minute Tuesday evening, en route to a 62-48 victory over Ripon's women's basketball team. The Green Knights, who once again find themselves in first place in the MWC standings, shot at least 50 percent in each half and converted 55 percent (22-40) of their field goals in the game, while the Red Hawks made 29 percent (16-56) of their shots. Ripon was also outscored in the paint, 26-10.

Ripon's only lead of the night came on the opening possession when Megan Jensen put the ball in the basket. St. Norbert (14-3, 11-1 MWC) tied the score on a Heidi Van Sistine basket during the ensuing possession and the Green Knights never looked back, scoring the next 10 points. SNC closed the half on a 9-1 run to take a 36-17 lead into halftime.

The Green Knights continued to lead by double digits in the second half, going up by as many as 26 points. Ripon (2-15, 2-10 MWC) managed to cut that to 12 on a 3-pointer by Meg Ryan in the final minutes, but it was too little, too late.

Jensen led the Red Hawks with a career-high 13 points, to go along with a team-best three steals. Ryan finished with eight points, while Nicole Herkert also scored eight, to go along with a team-high eight rebounds (six offensive).

St. Norbert was led by Stephanie Wiegman's 13 points off the bench, while Brianna Byrne and Van Sistine scored 12 and 11 points, respectively. Tasha Giese chipped in with six points, seven rebounds, and six assists.

The Red Hawks will try to get back on track Saturday when they'll host Grinnell College. That game will begin at 1 p.m. in Ripon and can be seen live at,http://portal.stretchinternet.com/ripon/.



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