RIPON, Wis. - Ripon's women's basketball team defeated Lawrence 63-51 Saturday afternoon, marking their 24th consecutive victory over the Vikings. More importantly, the win, coupled with Monmouth's loss at Grinnell puts Ripon in sole possession of first place in the Midwest Conference standings with four games remaining in the regular season.

Saturday's game was a hard-fought battle, which saw Lawrence (5-15, 2-12 MWC) lead for the entire first quarter, taking a 15-11 advantage into the second period. After Lawrence scored the first basket of the second quarter to go up by six, Ripon (13-8, 12-2 MWC) answered with seven consecutive points to grab their first lead of the day. The lead changed hands four more times before halftime, with the Red Hawks scoring the final seven points of the half to take a 32-28 lead into halftime.

Ripon would gain some breathing room in the second half, going up by 11 on a pair of Shannon Sorbo free throws mid-way through the third quarter. After taking an 11-point lead into the fourth quarter, the Red Hawks were able to hold Lawrence at arm's length the rest of the way. Lawrence pulled within six in the opening minutes of the final period, but Ripon ended the game on an 11-5 run to earn the victory.

Senior Maggie Oimoen led Ripon with 23 points and 11 rebounds (seven offensive), which marks her 18th career double-double, which is the fourth-most in program history. Oimoen also became just the sixth player in program history to surpass the 1,200 point plateau, while also becoming only the third player in program history to record 1,200 points and 600 rebounds in a career. Jesi Nay added 12 points on 3-of-4 shooting from 3-point range, while Skyylar Brescia recorded 12 points, six rebounds, and four steals off the bench. The Red Hawks finished the game shooting 43 percent (24-56) from the field and 57 percent (4-7) from 3-point range, while out-rebounding the Vikings 40-23.

Lawrence was led by the MWC's leading scorer Kenya Earl, who had 19 points, which is two more than her season average. Earl shot 8-for-16 from the field, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range, while adding four rebounds. Shonell Benjamin chipped in with nine points, while Grace Minogue scored eight off the bench.

Winners in 10 of their last 11 games, including three straight, Ripon will be in action again on Tuesday when they'll travel to Cornell College. That game will begin at 5:30 p.m. in Mount Vernon, Iowa, and can be seen live at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/ripon/.