Green Knights Grind to Win Over Ripon

From Sports Information Director, January 11, 2011 | Women's Basketball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

RIPON - It didn't look pretty but style points don't matter in the standings as St. Norbert College went on to post a 55-45 Midwest Conference win over Ripon College.

The Green Knights, who are ranked No. 17 in the D3hoops.com Top 25, won their ninth-straight game to improve to 11-1 overall and 7-0 in the MWC. Ripon dropped to 4-7, 3-3.

St. Norbert never trailed in the game but Ripon hung around until the game's final five minutes. The Green Knights committed 21 turnovers and were 0-for-10 from beyond the three-point arc.

St. Norbert held a 21-7 lead with 3 minutes 39 seconds left in the first half, but Ripon closed out the period with a 10-2 run to cut the deficit to 23-17 at halftime.

The Red Hawks got to within 23-21 on an Emily Meyer basket with 18:54 left, but St. Norbert went on a 6-0 run to gain some breathing room. Erin Baganz made a pair of free throws with Jamie Kuhl and Stefanie Bunday following with hoops for a 29-21 advantage. Ripon would not get closer than six points the rest of the game, the latest at 37-31 with 9:21 left.

St. Norbert held Ripon without a field goal from the 12:14 mark of the second half until there was 4:49 left, and even on Ripon's 3-pointer by Katie Raymond at that point the Green Knights still led 45-36.

Kuhl led St. Norbert with 14 points, while Rachel Hermus added 10. Bunday and Pelky each added eight, and St. Norbert outrebounded Ripon 35-29. St. Norbert shot 44.2 percent (19-for-43) from the floor, and was 11-for-17 (63.0 percent) in the second half.

Meyer led Ripon with 18 points, while Raymond added 11 points. The Red Hawks made just one-third (16-for-48) of their field-goal attempts.