STEVENS POINT, Wis. - The Ripon College women's basketball team poured in a complete effort on both ends of the floor in a 62-51 road, non-conference victory over UW-Stevens Point Saturday evening.
 
The Red Hawks led for most of the first two quarters, with the lead changing hands 6 times before Ripon grabbed the 28-26 lead shortly before halftime. Ripon then began to flex its muscle in the second half, primarily in the third quarter, and started to pull away. The Red Hawks won the third quarter 17-11 and took an 8-point lead into the final 10 minutes.
 
Ripon ballooned their lead to 10 points a couple of times early in the fourth quarter, but UW-Stevens Point cut it to just 3 on a three-pointer with 3:03 to play. On the very next Red Hawk possession, Bella Opelt hit a huge answer of a three-pointer to push Ripon's lead back to 6 and halt the Pointers' momentum in its tracks. From Opelt's made three on, Ripon closed the game on an 11-3 run to post the 62-51 victory.
 
Opelt shot 8-of-11 from the field to lead all scorers with 19 points. Alison Leslie had 12 points in just 18 minutes of play and Bonnie Jensen had 10 points, led the team with 3 assists, and was second on the team with 6 rebounds. Cydney Pittenger came off the bench and helped Ripon win the battle on the boards, grabbing a team-high 7 rebounds in just 11 minutes played.
 
Ripon takes a short holiday break before returning to the floor for the UW-Oshkosh Tournament to close out 2022. The Red Hawks open the tournament with UW-Stout on Thursday, December 29^th at 12:00 p.m.