The Ripon College women's basketball team jumped out to a big halftime lead then withstood a second-half comeback to defeat Knox College, 64-54. Saturday's victory was the Red Hawks' 13th in a row and clinched a share of the 2022-23 Midwest Conference Regular Season Championship.
 
Neither team was overly efficient offensively in either the first or second quarters, but Ripon's defense was especially strong as the Red Hawks held Knox to just 13 percent shooting in the first quarter and 30 percent in the second quarter. Ripon closed the first quarter on an 11-2 run to go up 14-4, then led by as many as 16 points in the second quarter before going into the locker rooms with a 26-13 lead.
 
Ripon maintained a double-digit lead in the third quarter, but they were unable to fully pull away from Knox as their advantage never topped 16. After a 3-minute scoreless stretch, the Red Hawks' saw their lead trimmed to 7 points, and by the end of the quarter, that advantage was down to just 4 points as Ripon held on to a 41-37 lead with 10 minutes to play.
 
Knox opened the fourth quarter with a three-pointer to make it a one-point game, but Ripon recovered in a dominant fashion. The Red Hawks went on a 14-0 run, turning a 41-40 game into a 55-40 game with just over 6 minutes to go. That run was enough for Ripon to not only regain momentum but create a lead that they would not relinquish as the Red Hawks would secure the 64-54 victory.
 
Bonnie Jensen led all players with 21 points and added 11 rebounds in the win. Alison Leslie and Skyylar Brescia each recorded 13 points to complete the trio of double-digit scorers for Ripon. Brescia grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds and Leslie completed her box-score-filling stat line with 7 rebounds and a game-high 5 assists.
 
Ripon will host the 2023 Midwest Conference Women's Basketball Tournament next weekend. As the No. 1 seed, Ripon will face No. 4 seed Illinois College at 5 p.m. on Friday, February 24. No. 2 Knox College will play No. 3 Cornell College at 7 p.m. The winners of those games will face each other at 3 p.m. Saturday.