JACKSONVILLE, Illinois – Bonnie Jensen of the Ripon women's basketball program scored her 1,000th career point and the Red Hawks used a strong fourth quarter to defeat Illinois College 70-65 on Saturday afternoon inside Sherman Gymnasium.
 
Needing just six points to become the 11th Red Hawk in program history to reach 1,000 career points, Jensen made a free throw with 4:01 remaining in the second quarter to claim the career milestone.
 
Ripon (8-6, 5-0 MWC) trailed by five points with under eight minutes remaining in the game, but outscored Illinois College (8-7, 3-3 MWC) 26-21 in a high-scoring final frame. The 26 points in the last stanza was the highest-scoring quarter for the Red Hawks since the 29-point outburst in the fourth quarter at UW-La Crosse on November 18.
 
STANDOUT HAWKS

• Junior guard Bella Opelt netted a season-high 18 points on 7-of-15 shooting.
• Junior forward Ella Ten Pas did a little bit of everything with 15 points, 8 rebounds, 5 steals and 3 assists.
• Senior forward Bonnie Jensen scored 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting, adding 6 rebounds and 2 assists.
• Freshman guard Laney Havlovitz contributed 9 points, 6 rebounds and a pair of assists.
• Senior guard Abby Hartmann scored 6 points, chipping in 4 boards, 2 assists and 2 steals.

PLAY-BY-PLAY
Illinois College led 4-2 in the early going before Ripon ripped off a 9-0 run to grab a quick 11-4 lead less than five minutes into the game. The Red Hawk lead extended to 12 late in the first quarter with a 7-0 run as Ripon held IC without a point for nearly three minutes. The Lady Blues ended the quarter on a 6-2 run, but Ripon still led by eight after the first quarter. 
 
Anna Fahrney hit a triple to open the second quarter, but offense was harder to come by in the next 10 minutes. Following Fahrney's basket, the Red Hawks endured a scoring drought of over five minutes and Illinois College fought back into the game with 10 consecutive points to make it a 25-24 Ripon advantage until Jensen reached the 1,000 point threshold with a free throw. After a Sophie Schlieve layup with 3:37 left, the Lady Blues ended the half on an 11-0 run and led Ripon 33-28 at intermission.
 
Ripon started the second half with three straight points by Opelt before IC answered nearly two and a half minutes in. The Red Hawks cut their deficit to three, but Illinois College responded and led by as many as eight in the quarter, 42-34. Ripon clawed its way back in the game at the end of the third quarter, tying the game at 44 apiece thanks to a 10-2 run over the final 3:57 of the frame, punctuated by a buzzer-beating layup by Ten Pas.
 
Illinois College scored the first five points of the fourth and final quarter, holding Ripon scoreless for the first three-plus minutes of the period until Ripon went on a 7-0 run to reclaim its first lead since the 3:30 mark of the second quarter. After IC tied it up with 5 minutes and 16 seconds left in the game, the Red Hawks surged ahead with four consecutive points and never relinquished the lead. Though the Lady Blues trimmed their deficit to two with 24 seconds left, Ten Pas and Havlovitz hit key free throws in the final 20 seconds to preserve the important road win.
 
KEY STATS

• Ripon shot 50.0% from the field for just the third time this season (25-of-50), while Illinois College also shot the ball well at a 42.6% clip (20-of-47).
• The Red Hawks tied a season-high with 31 free throw attempts – making 17 for a 54.8% success rate – while Illinois College shot 92.0% from the free throw line (23-of-25).
• Ripon had a season-high 28 turnovers but turned the Lady Blues over 24 times.
• Ripon dominated the paint to the tune of 36 points in the lane, though IC had 24 in the same category.
• Maya Smith scored a team-high 14 points for Illinois College.

UP NEXT
Ripon continues Midwest Conference play on the road next Tuesday (January 9) as the Red Hawks visit Lake Forest for a 7:30 p.m. tip.
 
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