The Monmouth College women’s basketball team faced off against Ripon College last Saturday for their chance to return to the NCAA championship tournament, but the ladies fell short, with the game ending in a 62-55 loss. The Scots ended their season with a 14-10 record.
Ripon started the game with a 5-0 run before senior Tarae Warner scored at the 6:29 mark, followed by senior Jordan Kintigh and Kaitlyn Osmulski scoring to tie the game at 7-7. Ripon then went on an 8-0 run while the Scots sadly lost junior Lily Harlan to an ankle injury. However, junior Jadyn Mitchell stopped the Redhawks’ run with a pair of free throws. The first quarter ended with Ripon up 17-9.
Senior Josie Morgan started the second quarter with a three pointer, her first basket of the game. She then scored again on a layup, but Ripon responded by pushing their lead to 24-14. Monmouth fell into an offensive drought as Ripon extended their lead to sixteen points. Warner then scored to end Ripon’s run, and the teams traded points over the next two possessions. The first half ended with Ripon having a 32-18 lead.
The Scots came out hard in the second half of the game as Osmulski and Morgan both made three pointers on the Scots’ first two possessions. Junior Zoie Wall scored to cut Ripon’s lead before the Redhawks answered.
In the fourth quarter, the Scots were within eight points of Ripon. Morgan then scored again to make the score 50-44 with just six minutes left in play. Morgan made a pair of free throws, and Kintigh scored to put the Scots within four points. The team, however, was not able to tighten the score any further as the game came to a close.
Morgan led the Scots with twenty two points while Osmulski had eleven. Kintigh had eight points and six rebounds while both Wall and Warner had six points each.
Brooke McCormick - Sports Editor