St. Norbert Pulls Away From Ripon in Big Second Half

From Sports Information Director, January 28, 2012 | Women's Basketball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

RIPON - St. Norbert College used a big second half to pull away to a 69-43 win over Ripon College in a Midwest Conference game at the Storzer Center.

The Green Knights have now won 46 of their last 47 games against Midwest Conference opponents, and stands at 15-3 overall and 13-0 in the league. St. Norbert's 13-0 start in league play is its best in school history, surpassing the 12-0 mark set in the Wisconsin Independent Colleges-Women's Athletic Conference in 1978-79. Ripon dropped to 7-10, 6-6.

The Green Knights held the Red Hawks to a 5-for-23 (21.7 percent) shooting effort from the floor in the second half to outscore the host 30-13 in the final 20 minutes. St. Norbert led 42-37 with 15 minutes 31 seconds remaining in the second half before holding the Red Hawks to just six points the rest of the game. An 18-2 run by the Green Knights pushed them out to a 60-39 lead with 4:58 to go on a pair of Krista Pelky free throws. A basket and 3-pointer by Krista Hawkinson and a 3-pointer by Tasha Giese in the middle of the run opened up a 17-point bulge with just over 8 minutes to go.

St. Norbert opened the game on a 12-2 run, fueled by a pair of Pelky 3-pointers. The Red Hawks went on a 14-3 run over the next five minutes to take a one-point lead, but would never lead by a larger margin. Ripon led 18-17 with 9:33 left in the half before St. Norbert went on a 13-2 run for a 30-20 edge with 5:34 to go before halftime. St. Norbert led 39-30 at the break.

Pelky led St. Norbert with 16 points and she now has 1,067 points to move into 12th place on the school career scoring list. Hawkinson and Jamie Kuhl both had 12 points, while Giese had 10. The Green Knights had another profitable night from the floor, shooting 52.9 percent (27-for-51).

Erin Lind led Ripon with 15 points and eight rebounds. No other player was in double-digit scoring for the Red Hawks, who shot 34 percent (17-for-50) from the floor.