RIPON, Wis. - Ripon's women's basketball team moved into sole possession of first place in the Midwest Conference standings Saturday afternoon thanks to a 67-58 win against St. Norbert. The Red Hawks outscored SNC in the paint by a 48-22 margin, while also shooting 45 percent (25-56) from the field and holding the Green Knights to 33 percent (18-55) shooting.
 
The two teams battled evenly for much of the first quarter, as St. Norbert (5-12, 4-6 MWC) scored the final six points of that period to take a 14-10 lead. SNC's lead expanded to six points in the second quarter, but Ripon (10-7, 9-1 MWC) managed to end the half on a 7-1 run to tie the score at 24 on a Shannon Sorbo layup just before the buzzer sounded.
 
The lead changed hands a couple times early in the second half before Ripon took control with seven consecutive points, capped by a Caitie Carpenter jumper to give Ripon an eight point advantage. The Red Hawks took a further stranglehold on the game in the final quarter, taking their largest lead of 13 on a Megan Dille jumper with under eight minutes remaining.
 
Sorbo led Ripon with a career-high 12 points on 4-of-9 shooting in a reserve role, while freshman Skyylar Brescia also recorded career-highs of 11 points and seven rebounds in 12 minutes off the bench. Maggie Oimoen added 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting in just 17 minutes, while also pulling down five rebounds. Alyassa Burgess led the team with a game-high 11 rebounds, marking her third consecutive game with more than 10 boards.
 
St. Norbert was led by Sarah Ratajczyk's 14 points and five rebounds, while Macie Zurfluh added 12 points, six assists, four rebounds, and five steals.
 
Ripon will be in action again on Friday when they'll travel to Monmouth College, which currently sits just one-half game behind the Red Hawks in the MWC standings. That game will begin at 5:30 p.m. in Monmouth, Ill., and can be seen live at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/ripon/.