RIPON, Wis. - For the second time in three seasons, Ripon's women's basketball team is headed to the national stage of the NCAA Division-III Tournament. The Red Hawks punched their ticket to 'The Big Dance' by defeating Monmouth College 62-55 in Saturday's Midwest Conference Tournament Championship Game. This marked the third consecutive season these two teams have played for the championship on Ripon's home court, with the Red Hawks winning for the second time in three seasons.

Ripon (18-9) notched their third consecutive season with at least 18 victories, as they never trailed in the game. The Red Hawks scored the first five points of the contest, but Monmouth (14-10) battled back to tie it up at seven, but that's as close as the Fighting Scots would get the rest of the day. Ripon scored the next eight points and never looked back. They opened up their largest lead of the first half in the final minutes of the second quarter when Alison Leslie connected on a jumper.

After leading by 14 at the half, Ripon was out-scored 17-6 in the first five minutes of the third quarter, pulling Monmouth within three. That comeback bid was quickly squashed when Ripon scored seven points in the next minute on a 3-pointer from Jordan Bukouricz and a four-point play by Leslie. Monmouth would cut that lead to five in the final minute of the fourth quarter, but Ripon would hold them at arm's length the rest of the way.

The Red Hawks shot 44 percent (22-50) from the field, including 55 percent (6-11) from 3-point range. Leslie led the way with 21 points, as she became just the fifth player in program history to score more than 400 points in a single season, while also moving into 18th on the program's all-time scoring list, passing Kristin Dodds '98 with 826 career points. Kassidy Walters added 13 points in 15 minutes off the bench, while Bukouricz recorded seven points and a career-high nine rebounds.

Monmouth was held to just 35 percent (21-60) shooting, including 24 percent (5-21) from 3-point range. Josie Morgan led the Fighting Scots with 22 points, while Kaitlyn Osmulski added 11 points and four steals.

Ripon will now play the waiting game, as they'll find out who and where they'll play on Monday at 1:30 p.m. Central Time during the NCAA Division-III Women's Tournament selection show, which can be seen live online at NCAA.com.