LA CROSSE, Wis. - Ripon's women's basketball team gave UW-La Crosse all they could handle for the first 20 minutes of Tuesday's game. After entering halftime tied at 29, Ripon would run out of gas, as they were outscored in the second half by a 22-10 margin, en route to a 51-39 loss to the Eagles. The Red Hawks shot just 14 percent (3-22) after halftime, while UW-La Crosse converted 47 percent (8-17) of their second half shots.

The two teams played evenly for the first half of the opening quarter, before Ripon scored eight consecutive points to take a 14-6 advantage in the final minutes of the period. After leading by five at the end of the quarter, Ripon built that lead back up to eight on a 3-pointer by Bella Opelt in the opening minutes of the second period. That lead would vanish in the final minutes of the half when Emma Gamoke scored for the Eagles to tie it at 29.

Ripon scored a basket on the opening possession of the second half when Bonnie Jensen converted a layup, but UW-La Crosse would soon tie the score, which was the beginning of a 12-5 run to end the quarter. Despite the shooting woes, Ripon entered the fourth quarter only trailing by five, but those woes continued in the fourth, helping La Crosse outscore the Red Hawks 10-3 in the final quarter to secure the victory.

Jensen led Ripon with nine points and three steals, while Alison Leslie chipped in with eight points. Opelt also contributed by matching a career-high of seven points.

UW-La Crosse was led by Paige Schumann's game-high 11 points. Gamoke added nine points, while Lexie Higgins and Casandra Warmsley each scored six. Nearly half of the Eagles' points (23) came off turnovers, while also scoring 28 points in the paint.

The Red Hawks will be back in action on Saturday when they'll travel to Waukesha, Wis. to battle Carroll University. That game will begin at 2 p.m., and can be seen live at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/carroll/.