The Ripon College women's basketball team opened the New Year with a wire-to-wire road victory over Grinnell College Tuesday afternoon.
 
Skyylar Brescia had a monster game for the Red Hawks, posting a near-triple-double with 16 points, and game-highs of 18 rebounds and 7 steals. Bonnie Jensen followed with 13 points and 6 rebounds and Alison Leslie added another 12 points for Ripon's double-digit scorers.
 
It was an abnormal shooting performance for Ripon based on their standards this season, with the Red Hawks shooting just 38 percent from the floor and 33 percent from three-point range, but Ripon outrebounded Grinnell 51-24, including 23-1 on the offensive glass, and recorded 13 steals. Overall, Ripon took 30 more shots than Grinnell, had 22 second chance points and 22 points off turnovers.
 
Ripon scored the first six points of the game and never looked back, posting a wire-to-wire victory. The Red Hawks led by 8 twice in the first quarter before closing the opening 10 minutes with a 12-5 advantage. Grinnell opened the second quarter on a 5-0 run to trim Ripon's lead to just two points, and then a few minutes later, the Red Hawk lead was a single point, but the return of Brescia, Jensen, Leslie, and Kiana Fall to the court restored order and Ripon closed the quarter on an 11-4 run to take a 25-17 lead into halftime.
 
Leslie opened the third quarter with a quick three-pointer, pushing the Ripon lead to 11 within seconds of the second half starting. The Red Hawks held onto a double-digit lead for nearly the entire third quarter and all the fourth quarter before closing out the 20-point victory.
 
Ripon returns home to host Illinois College on Saturday, January 7th. The Midwest Conference game is set to start at 1:00 p.m.