ST. PAUL, Minn. - Ripon's women's basketball team stayed within shouting distance of the second-ranked team in the country for three quarters during Friday's NCAA Tournament First Round game, but St. Thomas (MN) proved to be too much, ending the Red Hawks season by a score of 88-58. St. Thomas showed why they are the top-shooting team in Division-III, converting 55 percent (31-56) of their shots, including 53 percent (9-17) of their 3-pointers. Ripon finished the game shooting 34 percent (20-59) from the field.

St. Thomas (27-1), who never trailed in the game, scored the first five points, but Ripon (19-9) answered with four of their own, cutting that lead to one on a layup by Maggie Oimoen. The Tommies then scored the next seven points, en route to a 22-14 lead after one quarter of play. The two teams played pretty evenly in the second period, with St. Thomas outscoring Ripon 18-15 in the quarter to take a 40-29 halftime lead.

Ripon cut that lead to 10 on a 3-pointer by Caitie Carpenter with six and a half minutes left in the third quarter, but that's as close as they would get the rest of the night. St. Thomas led 61-46 entering the final quarter, before outscoring Ripon 27-12 in that final frame.

Carpenter led the Red Hawks with a career-high 16 points on 5-of-6 shooting, while Senior Maggie Oimoen finished with 11 points and seven rebounds (three offensive). Oimoen finishes her career with 1,318 career points, which ranks second in program history, and is just nine shy of the school record. Freshman Skyylar Brescia chipped in with nine points in 12 minutes off the bench.

St. Thomas was led by Hannah Spaulding, who recorded 29 points, 22 of which came in the first half, while also pulling down 10 rebounds. Kaia Porter added 17 points and eight rebounds, while Lucia Renikoff had eight points and a game-high nine assists.

Ripon ends the season with 19 wins, which is tied for the fifth-most in program history. Their 1,151 rebounds this year breaks the previous school record of 1,137, which had stood for 21 years.