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APPLETON, Wis. - For the first time in 14 days, the Red Hawk's women's basketball team took the court, and it turned out to be worth the wait. Ripon defeated Lawrence University 54-52 on Saturday to earn their first conference victory of the season. The Red Hawk bench showed up in a big way, combining for 32 points, which accounted for 59 percent of the team's offense.
Lawrence (3-7, 0-3) looked as if they would run away with the game early, getting out to a seven point lead just seven minutes into the contest. Ripon (4-7, 1-3) then battled back, scoring eight of the games next nine points, with that run capped off by a jumper by freshman Katie Horkan. Lawrence would then build another seven point lead with five minutes left before halftime, but Ripon battled back once more to tie the game at 22 on a Jessica DeHamer layup with just over one minute left. Lawrence's Careese Reiland answered back with a layup of her own in the final minute, giving the Vikings a 24-22 lead at the half.
The Red Hawks wasted no time tying the game again in the second half, as Emily Meyer's jumper knotted the game at 24. Meyer would then give Ripon their first lead of the game with another jumper on Ripon's next possession, which was started by a steal by Ashley Meister. After Lawrence took another brief lead, the Red Hawks grabbed it back with just over 16 minutes remaining, and would not trail the rest of the night. Horkan gave them their largest lead of eight points at the 8:14 mark and after a brief rally by Lawrence, Ripon would lead by eight once again with just over four minutes to play. The Vikings refused to give up however, as they scored 10 of the next 12 points to tie the game at 52 with 14 seconds left. DeHamer was subsequently fouled with four seconds remaining and would sink both free throws, giving the Red Hawks the victory.
Ripon won the game despite shooting just 33 percent (21-63) from the field, while watching Lawrence connect on 43 percent of their shots (21-49). Meyer led the Red Hawks with 15 points off the bench on 7-of-14 shooting. She also added a career-high nine rebounds. DeHamer chipped in with 12 points and six boards, while also recording three steals. Jeni Yaeger contributed eight points and seven rebounds.
The Vikings were led by Carrie Van Groll, who recorded a double-double with game-highs of 20 points and 10 rebounds. Reiland added 18 points for Lawrence, who had just five players break into the scoring column. A big reason for the outcome of the game was that the Vikings shot just 50 percent (9-18) from the free-throw line, while Ripon sank 69 percent (11-16) of their shots from the charity stripe.
Ripon will try to keep their momentum Friday when they'll host Lake Forest College at Storzer Center. That game will begin at 5:30 p.m. and will be followed by the men's contest against the Foresters. Both games can be seen via webcast at www.midwestconference.tv.
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