By: The Red Hawks piled up an astounding 50-14 advantage on the glass in an 83-63 win on Saturday afternoon.
Box Score
JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College women's basketball team was outrebounded by a 50-14 margin and Ripon College was able to take advantage of those extra possessions as the game wore on, pulling away for an 83-63 win. IC was eliminated from Midwest Conference Tournament contention, dropping to 11-10 (8-8 MWC). Ripon moves to 15-6 (13-3 MWC).
Things started poorly for Illinois College, but the Lady Blues recovered to stay well within striking distance for much of the first half. The first eight points of the game all belonged to Megan Jensen as the Ripon point guard started 3-for-3 from the field including a pair of three-pointers.
Brielle Greenleaf answered with a three of her own, and though the Red Hawks took a 13-3 lead, the Lady Blues ended the first quarter well and trailed just 19-15.
In the second quarter, Illinois College was always able to fight back, but Ripon maintained its lead the whole way. IC cut its deficit to two points on six occasions in the quarter, and a
Jaicie Halleman trey with just over three minutes until halftime made it a 35-34 game. The Red Hawks closed out the half strong though, hitting a jumper in the final 10 seconds and taking a 43-36 lead into halftime.
Ripon already enjoyed a 20-10 rebounding advantage in the first half, but things went from bad to worse for IC in the second half. Of 34 rebound opportunities in the third and fourth quarters, Ripon ended up with all but four of them. After the teams traded baskets in the opening minute of the third quarter, the Lady Blues barely touched the ball except for after Ripon field goals. It took nearly the rest of the quarter before
Shannen Quehl hit a jumper to break the IC shooting drought, and by that time Ripon was ahead, 62-42. The lead was 18 going into the final quarter.
The Red Hawk lead grew to 22 points early on in the fourth quarter, but Illinois College answered with a 7-0 run thanks to some high-pressure defense. Greenleaf made a pair at the line and Quehl had a three-point play before a Greenleaf steal and coast-to-coast layup to make it 68-53. Ripon quickly took a timeout and then converted a three-point play of its own out of the break, effectively putting the game away with a little under seven minutes remaining.
Greenleaf was the leading scorer in the game with 25 points. Quehl ended with 13 points and a team-high six rebounds.
Sydney Lett had nine points and seven assists, while Halleman ended with eight. On Senior Day,
Mickalah York was saddled with foul trouble and ended with three assists and two rebounds.
Illinois College closes out the home portion of its schedule on Feb. 14 with a 5:30 p.m. matchup against Monmouth College.
