RIPON, Wis. - The Ripon College women's basketball team lost to defending Midwest Conference Champion St. Norbert Wednesday night 62-39 in a game that wasn't decided until the second half. Trailing by eight at halftime, the Red Hawks shot 23 percent (5-21) in the second half, which allowed the Green Knights to run away with the victory. St. Norbert also scored 22 points off 21 Ripon turnovers.

The game was close throughout the first quarter, with neither team leading by more than five points. St. Norbert (10-4, 7-2 MWC) took a six-point advantage on a Jill Kleiman 3-pointer to start the second quarter, but Ripon (8-6, 6-3 MWC) erased that lead with six consecutive points to tie the score at 20 with seven and a half minutes left in the half. That's as close as the score would get the rest of the night, as SNC took a 33-25 lead into halftime.

St. Norbert took control of the game in the second half, scoring the first 14 points of the third quarter to take a 22-point lead before Ripon scored their first points of the period with one minute on the clock. The Green Knights coasted from there, leading by as many as 25 in the game's final quarter. St. Norbert converted 45 percent (9-20) of their second half shots.

Ripon was led by Maggie Oimoen's 12 points and two blocked shots. Nicole Herkert added nine points and a team-high seven rebounds (five offensive), while Emma McDonald chipped in with six points, six rebounds, and a team-high two steals.

Brianna Byrne led St. Norbert with 11 points and five rebounds, while Sarah Wiseman scored 10 points in 11 minutes off the bench. The Green Knights shot 47 percent (7-15) from 3-point range and had six players finish with at least eight points in the game.

The loss drops the Red Hawks into a four-way tie for third place in the MWC standings. They will try to rebound on Saturday as they'll travel to one of the teams they are currently tied with, Grinnell College, Saturday at 1 p.m. The game can be seen live with LiveStats at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/ripon/.