RIPON, Wis. - Ripon's women's basketball team defeated Cornell 50-42 Wednesday night to become the first team to clinch a spot in this year's Midwest Conference Tournament, marking the fifth consecutive season the Red Hawks are headed to the postseason. The two-time defending MWC champions sit atop the conference with just three games remaining in the regular season. The victory also marks the fourth consecutive season in which Ripon has won at least 17 games.

Cornell (12-8, 9-5 MWC) was in control early on, scoring the game's first five points and getting out to a 12-1 lead nearly seven minutes into the contest. Then freshman Alison Leslie began to head up, scoring Ripon's next 11 points in a two and a half minute span, helping the Red Hawks (17-5, 13-2 MWC) go into the second quarter trailing by just two points. Alyassa Burgess then tied the score on the first basket of the second quarter, before Bonnie Jensen gave Ripon their first lead of the game on a layup with seven minutes left in the first half. The Red Hawks allowed just five points in the second period, outscoring the Rams 11-5 in that quarter, and going into halftime with a 23-19 lead.

Ripon continued to lead in the second half, with Cornell never getting closer than four. That would change in the final quarter when a 3-pointer by Rose Shimaoka cut Ripon's lead to a single point with just over four minutes remaining. The Red Hawks would hold on for the victory however, thanks in large part to their performance at the free throw line where they made all eight of their free throws in the fourth quarter, while shooting 77 percent (13-17) from the charity stripe in the game.

Ripon was led by Leslie's 15 points and six rebounds (three offensive) on 6-of-9 shooting, including 3-of-5 from 3-point range. Fellow freshman Bonnie Jensen added 10 points and a career-high 14 rebounds (four offensive) for her second career double-double, while also adding four assists, two steals, and one blocked shot.

Bella Gonzalez's 14 points paced Cornell. Madison Wauters added seven points and nine rebounds, while Anne Visser scored seven points off the bench.

That now sets up a monumental match-up on Saturday when Ripon will travel to Monmouth College, who is currently in second place in the MWC, just one game behind the Red Hawks. Saturday's game will begin at 3 p.m. in Monmouth, Ill., and can be seen live at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/ripon/.