GREEN BAY, Wisconsin – The Ripon women's basketball program faced off against a Division I program for the second time in program history on Thursday night, falling to Green Bay 75-42 inside the Kress Center on a snowy winter evening.
 
Green Bay (8-5), the defending Horizon League Tournament champions, used strong first and third quarters to pull away from Ripon in the first meeting between the schools since 1978.
 
STANDOUT HAWKS

• Senior forward Ella Ten Pas scored a team-high 10 points, adding seven rebounds.
• Junior guard McKenzie Bestor contributed a team-high 10 points and three rebounds.
• Junior guard Natalie Rauwolf added six points and four rebounds.
• Senior guard Anna Fahrney tallied five points.
• Freshman guard Halle Van Horn recorded four points, seven rebounds and two blocks.

PLAY-BY-PLAY
Green Bay opened the scoring on its first possession, but Fahrney answered moments later with a mid-range jumper. A triple by Fahrney brought Ripon within three at 8-5 nearly halfway through the quarter, but six consecutive points by the Phoenix extended their lead to nine. Free throws by Bestor ended the slide, though GB ended the quarter on a 9-0 run over the last 3:18 to lead 23-7 after 10 minutes.
 
Rauwolf opened the second quarter scoring as the Red Hawks kept Green Bay off the board for over two minutes. Following Ripon's basket, the Phoenix went on a 9-0 to lead 32-9 with 4:35 left in the half. Back-to-back baskets by Ten Pas and Molly Johannes forced a Green Bay timeout with 1:59 left in the stanza, and the Red Hawks ended the half on a 10-3 run to trail 42-23 at the break.
 
Green Bay came out of intermission and scored 13 of the first 14 points, stretching its advantage to 55-24 with four minutes to go in the quarter. The Red Hawks' first field goal of the stanza came at the 3:50 mark on a driving layup by Van Horn, and another layup by the freshman ended the scoring for the quarter. Green Bay was in front 62-30 with the fourth yet to be played.
 
A pair of free throws for Green Bay opened the fourth quarter scoring, but Ripon answered with the next four points – all at the charity stripe. The Phoenix maintained a lead of at least 30 points the rest of the way en route to the non-conference win.
 
 KEY STATS

• Green Bay shot 41.5% from the field (27-65) limiting Ripon to 14-of-50 shooting from the field (28.0%).
• Seven different Red Hawks recorded an assist.
• Ripon was a sparkling 13-of-14 from the free-throw line (92.9%).
• The teams combined for just three made three-pointers – Green Bay made two and Ripon made one.
• The Phoenix had a 40-34 rebounding advantage and scored 46 points in the paint.
• Natalie McNeal led Green Bay with 15 points.

UP NEXT
Ripon takes 10 days off before returning to action on Sunday, December 29 at the BSN Winter Classic hosted by UW-Oshkosh. The Red Hawks play Marian at 12 p.m. inside Oshkosh Arena.
 
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