PLYMOUTH, Wis. - Ripon women's basketball moved to 2-0 in the early season, posting an 88-71 road win over Lakeland University Saturday evening.
 
The Red Hawks had four players with double-digit points, with Alison Leslie recording a game-high 17 points in just 23 minutes of play. Leslie was nearly perfect from the floor, shooting 5-of-6 from the field, her only miss being a three-pointer, and hitting all 5 of her free throw attempts. Kiana Fall was next with 14 points, Bella Opelt had 12 points, and Bonnie Jensen tallied 11 in an off-shooting night for the senior. Jensen did match Skyylar Brescia with a game-high 8 rebounds and added 5 assists to turn in a multifaceted performance. Brescia rounded out the top-five scorers with 9 points on the night.
 
Ripon shot just 44% in the first quarter as Lakeland held on to small leads two times in the opening 10 minutes. But Lakeland's last lead came with just over 4 minutes to play in the first quarter at 9-8. 50 seconds later, Leslie drove the paint and laid in the basket to give Ripon the 10-9 lead, an advantage they would not relinquish. By the end of the first quarter, the Red Hawks led 22-12 and never looked back.
 
Ripon was highly efficient on the offensive end in the second quarter, hitting almost 77% of their shots. They needed each of those baskets as Ripon and Lakeland essentially traded baskets for the entirety of the second quarter. The Red Hawks had 25 points in the second quarter while Lakeland had 23 points, giving Ripon a 12-point advantage at the break.
 
The third quarter was where Ripon pulled away. The Red Hawks' lead almost reached 20 points early in the quarter, but Lakeland would chip away and trailed by 12 with 2:46 to go. Ripon, however, had a convincing answer and closed the quarter on a 14-6 run and led by 20, 75-55, with a quarter left to play.
 
The Red Hawks coasted over the final 10 minutes, keeping Lakeland at arm's length the entire way as Ripon went on to secure the 17-point victory.
 
Ripon, with its 2-0 record, now heads home to take on UW-La Crosse in its first home game of the 2022-23 season. The game against UW-La Crosse is scheduled for Wednesday, November 16^th with a 7:00 p.m. start time.