APPLETON, Wis. — The Lawrence University women’s basketball team scored just one point over the final 11 minutes and endured a horrendous afternoon at the foul line in a 41-40 Midwest Conference loss to Ripon College at Alexander Gymnasium.
Ripon (1-2, 1-0 MWC) got two free throws from Meg Ryan with 30 seconds left to take the lead, and freshman guard Lauren Deveikis missed a jumper with five seconds left that would have won it for Lawrence (0-3, 0-1).
Both teams had a rough time at the foul line as Lawrence connected on only 9-of-22 from the stripe and Ripon hit just 9-of-21.
Freshman Danelle Buck led Lawrence with 11 points and she picked up seven rebounds. Freshman forward Elizabeth Arco pulled down 10 rebounds and added eight points for the Vikings. Andrea Wilkinson chipped in with nine points for the Vikings.
Ryan, McKenzie Banasik and Nicole Herkert scored 10 points apiece to pace Ripon, and Herkert had a game-high 13 rebounds.
Lawrence led throughout most of the contest as the Vikings took their first lead at 7-5 on Arco’s three-point play with 13:15 left in the first half. Lawrence would build that advantage to as much as nine points before the Red Hawks trimmed the lead to 28-22 at the half.
The Vikings grabbed their biggest lead of the game by going on a 6-0 run, capped by Natalie Kramer’s layup and an Arco free throw with 11:07 left, for a 39-27 edge.
Ripon began chipping away at the advantage as the Vikings went ice cold from the floor and the foul line. Lawrence finished the game by going 0-for-11 from the floor and 1-for-5 from the line.
Lawrence’s only points in that stretch came on Kassidy Rinehart’s free throw with 4:51 remaining that gave the Vikings a 40-35 lead. Ripon got a layup from Chelsea Moldenhauer and a couple of free throws from Banasik to cut the lead to 40-39.
The Vikings then committed three consecutive turnovers before fouling Ryan. She hit both free throws to give Ripon the lead for good.