PLYMOUTH, Wis. - Ripon's women's basketball team began defense of their back-to-back conference championships with a 45-42 victory at Lakeland University in their season opener on Friday. The game came down to free throw shooting, as Ripon converted on 73 percent (8-11) of their foul shots, while Lakeland made just 39 percent (5-13) of their shots from the charity stripe.

The Red Hawks (1-0) scored the game's first basket on a jumper by Jesi Nay, and wouldn't trail until Lakeland's Megan Will made a layup mid-way through the second quarter to take a 17-16 lead. After the lead changed hands a couple more times, Ripon took a 21-19 lead into halftime.

Back-to-back 3-pointers early in the third quarter by Kiana Fall and Nay extended Ripon's lead to five in the opening minutes of the second half. The Red Hawks took their largest lead of eight on the first basket of the fourth quarter - a layup by Caitie Carpenter. That lead was cut to one on a Kacey Gardner layup with 10 seconds remaining, but a pair of Fall free throws would seal the win for the Red Hawks.

Ripon shot 32 percent (16-50) from the field, including 24 percent (5-21) from 3-point range. Nay and freshman Alison Leslie led the Red Hawks with 13 points apiece, with Nay converting 3-of-8 shots from 3-point range. Alyassa Burgess led all players with 10 rebounds, while freshmen Fall and Julia Scharinger led the team with three assists apiece.

Lakeland (0-3) shot 34 percent (18-53) from the field and 11 percent (1-9) from 3-point range. They were led by Will's 22 points and eight rebounds on 10-of-19 shooting. Brianna Jones was second on the team with six points.

The Red Hawks will be in action again on November 23 when they'll play their home opener against Carthage College. That game will begin at 1 p.m. at Weiske Gymnasium in Ripon, Wis., and can be seen live at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/ripon/.