RIPON, Wisconsin – The Ripon women's basketball program opened the game on a 16-2 run, held off a late UW-Platteville charge and defeated the visiting Pioneers 56-53 on Saturday afternoon inside Weiske Gymnasium.
 
Platteville (5-3) took a 53-52 lead with 3:04 remaining in the game, but Ripon (5-4) finished the game on a 4-0 run to claim the important non-conference win. The Red Hawks held Platteville to a season-low in points (53) and free throw percentage (47.4%) in the win.
 
STANDOUT HAWKS

• Junior guard Bella Opelt had a team-high 14 points, making all four free throws and both three-point attempts.
• Junior forward Ella Ten Pas collected 10 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals and 2 assists.
• Freshman guard Laney Havlovitz scored 9 points, chipping in 2 rebounds, 2 steals and an assist.
• Sophomore guard Natalie Rauwolf had an identical stat line of 9 points, 2 boards, 2 steals and 1 assist.
• Senior forward Bonnie Jensen netted 9 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists.

PLAY-BY-PLAY
Ripon came out of the gates firing, scoring the first six points and keeping Platteville off the scoreboard for the first 3 minutes and 22 seconds. Following the first Pioneer basket, Ripon went on a 10-0 run to lead by 14 with 4:16 left in the frame. UWP answered with an 8-0 run of its own to trim the deficit to six, but Jensen made a pair of free throws to finish the quarter and Ripon led by 8 after the first 10 minutes of play.
 
Platteville was within seven on multiple occasions at the beginning of the second quarter, but a 5-0 spurt by the Red Hawks leading 29-20 pushed the lead to 14 again. Jensen canned a triple to give Ripon its biggest lead of the game (37-22) with 2:44 left in the half, but Platteville scored four of the last five points to trail by 12 at intermission.
 
The Pioneers made their move in the third quarter. UWP trimmed a 14-point lead down to just three after a 9-0 run as the Red Hawks led 42-39 with 3:03 remaining in the quarter. Sarah Mueller scored three of the last four points in the frame and the Red Hawk lead was just a pair (46-44) heading into the final 10 minutes of action.
 
Platteville tied the game on two occasions early in the fourth and even grabbed a four-point lead (52-48) after a Macey Banasik three and a Mueller free throw. However, Ripon would not go away and answered with four points of its own to tie it at 52 with 3:19 left. Brynlee Nelson split a pair of free throws to put UWP up 53-52 with 3:04 left, but Ten Pas scored the go-ahead points on a layup with 2:09 remaining and Ripon held Platteville scoreless for the final 3+ minutes. Nelson had a three-point attempt with 0.9 seconds remaining that was off the mark to preserve the Ripon win.
 
KEY STATS

• Ripon had its best three-point shooting performance of the season, shooting 46.2% (6 of 13) while limiting UWP to 18.2% (4-22) from beyond the arc, a season-low for the Pioneers. This is the third consecutive game that Ripon has held an opponent under 19% shooting from deep.
• Ripon forced 19 turnovers but committed 20.
• The Red Hawks had a slight shooting advantage overall, accumulating a 46.5% clip (20-43) while the Pioneers were 20 of 47 from the field (42.6%).
• Sarah Mueller had a game-high 18 points to lead Platteville.

UP NEXT
Ripon has one more test before the Christmas break, hosting Lakeland on Tuesday (December 19) at 5:30 p.m.
 
FOLLOW
Follow Ripon College Red Hawks Athletics on Facebook and @RiponRedHawks on Twitter for immediate updates, results and more. Go to riponredhawks.com for all information, releases and schedules.