WAUKESHA, Wis. – The Carroll University women's basketball team jumped back into game action for the first time in over a week and picked up right where they left off. Carroll defeated Ripon College on Saturday afternoon by a score of 65-46. Katie Rohner led with 15 points, while Elizabeth Behrndt picked up her first double-double of the season with 12 points, 10 rebounds to lead the team. Allison Thompson tied the record for most blocked shots in a game with eight.
 
The Pioneers (5-0, 0-0 CCIW) remain perfect inside Van Male Field House. Carroll took a season-high 27 free-throw attempts and knocked down 19, good for 70.4% Carroll came into this contest ranked fourth in the nation in free-throw shooting. The Pios shot just 35.7% in the first half and did not make a single three-point basket on 11 attempts. A strong second half of 46.2% shooting helped push Carroll's lead. 13 Carroll steals on 24 Red Hawk turnovers game Carroll 20 points, while the Pioneers finished with 40 points in the paint. The Carroll bench contributed 24 points, including 14 from Natalie Palzkill, the freshman's fourth consecutive game with over 10 points.
 
Ripon's first basket on the first possession of the game would be the only time the Red Hawks would have a lead all afternoon. Rohner evened the game and Palzkill gave Carroll its first lead with 6:45 left in the first quarter. After a media timeout with the score of 6-4 Pioneers, Carroll went on a 9-2 run to finish out the quarter, with five of the nine points coming from free throws. Carroll picked up a double-digit lead on their first possession of the second quarter off a Behrndt layup. Palzkill and Rohner picked up back-to-back fast-break layups off their own steals to push the lead to 15 points. Behrndt pushed the lead back to 17 points with a layup with 25 seconds remaining in the half, but Ripon cut the lead to 14 going into the break.
 
Theresa Wichser (6 PTS) made Carroll's first three-point basket of the game at the 8:56 minute mark. Wischer's second three-ball gave Carroll its first 20-point lead of the game with 5:03 remaining in the third quarter. Palzkill's six points in the third quarter in just five minutes of play helped give Carroll an 18-point lead with 10 minutes to play. A Rohner three-point-play gave Carroll their largest lead of the game with 6:44 left to play in the game. Ripon went to their bench with 2:39 left down 19 points.
 
The Pioneers begin their CCIW season on Saturday, December 4 at Illinois Wesleyan. The Titans (1-2 at the time of this release) have not lost in the Shirk center to the Pioneers since Carroll re-joined the CCIW in 2016-17.