LAKE FOREST, Illinois – The Ripon women's basketball program clinched its second consecutive outright Midwest Conference championship on Wednesday night with an 85-58 win at Lake Forest inside the Sports & Recreation Center.
 
With the victory, Ripon (20-4, 14-1 MWC) earns the right to host next weekend's Midwest Conference Tournament on February 28 and March 1. Lawrence and Grinnell have wrapped up the second and third seeds, respectively, while Ripon awaits to find out if its semifinal opponent will either be Knox or Cornell.
 
STANDOUT HAWKS

• Freshman guard Halle Van Horn led all scorers with 18 points, shooting 7-of-11 from the floor. She added 10 rebounds, four assists and three steals.
• Senior forward Ella Ten Pas collected another double-double with 14 points, 10 rebounds and four steals. In the process, she broke her own school record for single-season rebounds (now 250) and also reached 700 career rebounds between both Ripon and Wisconsin Lutheran.
• Sophomore guard Laney Havlovitz was the third Red Hawk in double figures, contributing 12 points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals.
• Junior guard Natalie Rauwolf scored nine points to go along with two rebounds and two steals.
• Freshman guard Karsyn Nelson also tallied nine points, two rebounds and two steals.

PLAY-BY-PLAY
Lake Forest (4-20, 2-13 MWC) made things interesting in the early moments as a 5-0 spurt gave the hosts an early lead. However, a 7-0 Ripon swing put the Red Hawks on top 9-5 over three and a half minutes in. Six consecutive points for the Foresters put Ripon in a 14-11 deficit, though another 7-0 swung the momentum back in Ripon's favor. Bree Miller ended the quarter with a jumper and Ripon led 22-20 after 10 minutes.
 
Ripon scored the first 15 points of the second quarter to open a 17-point lead as Lake Forest was kept off the scoreboard for over half of the quarter. The lead never got lower than 15 from there, as the Foresters' first made field goal of the period came at the 2:16 mark. Rauwolf scored the final points of the half on a layup and the Red Hawk took a 44-27 advantage into the locker room.
 
The Red Hawks opened the second half on a 10-0 run, growing their lead to 27 in the process while keeping Lake Forest off the scoreboard for over three and a half minutes. A layup by Ten Pas at the 4:51 mark gave Ripon its biggest lead of the game thus far, 59-30, but five consecutive points by Van Horn pushed the advantage to 66-35. Ripon was held to one basket in the final two minutes of the quarter, but still found itself in front 68-41 after three quarters.
 
Lake Forest struck first in the fourth, but Ripon responded with the next five to equal its previous 31-point lead. An 8-2 Foresters run gave life to the hosts, but the margin never got smaller than 25. The Foresters made just two field goals in the final six minutes as Ripon coasted to the win.
 
KEY STATS

• Ripon shot an efficient 29-of-62 from the field (46.8%) while Lake Forest was 22-of-54 from the field (40.7%).
• Ripon was 24-of-31 from the free throw line, while the Foresters only attempted 14 free throws.
• The Red Hawks dominated the glass, owning a 44-27 rebounding advantage.
• Ripon turned 26 Lake Forest turnovers into 31 points.
• The Red Hawks scored 17 second-chance points and 46 points in the paint.
• Rebecca Christodoulou led Lake Forest with 14 points.

UP NEXT
Ripon hosts Lawrence on Saturday, February 22 at 1 p.m. for the Red Hawks' Senior Day and regular-season finale.
 
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