WHEATON, Ill. - It was a tale of two halves for the Ripon College women's basketball team as the Red Hawks suffered a 67-59 defeat at Wheaton College Tuesday evening.
 
Ripon trailed 16-13 at the end of the first quarter, but a dominant second quarter, where the Red Hawks shot 54 percent from the field and hit all four of their three-point attempts, had Ripon leading 35-28 at the break.
 
But after halftime, the game started to shift. Ripon came out strong in the third quarter and pushed their lead to 11 after a three-pointer by Alison Leslie, but from there, the Red Hawks went cold and Wheaton got hot. Leslie's three made it 43-32 with 5:13 left to play in the third quarter – that would be the largest lead for either team the rest of the way. Wheaton closed the third quarter on an 11-4 run and Ripon led by just four heading into the fourth quarter.
 
The game was still in contention for either team for most of the fourth quarter as the final 10 minutes featured five lead changes and two ties, the last coming at 55-55 midway through the fourth quarter. Ripon could not counter Wheaton, who went on a 7-0 run to break the 55-55 tie and hold on for the 67-59 victory.
 
Ripon will look to snap their three-game skid at home on Saturday, November 26^th against Carroll University. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.