RIPON, Wis. – Things didn't look good for the visitors early on in Saturday's Midwest Conference matchup at Ripon College.
The Grinnell College women's basketball team, which three weeks earlier lost to the league-leading Red Hawks by 28 points, trailed by 11 late in the first period of Saturday's contest.
But that didn't faze the Pioneers in the slightest, as they raced back into contention to take a three-point lead in the second quarter before settling for a 35-31 halftime deficit.
Ripon took off again, building its lead to 10 points midway through the fourth quarter before the visitors charged back again, making it a two-point game with less than two minutes to go. However, Ripon managed to hang on to secure a 68-62 win while moving to 10-2 in the MWC and 14-5 overall.
Grinnell, 9-10 overall and 5-7 in the league, got a game-high 19 points from
Tyria Heath '21 as she moved into 10th place on the program's career scoring list with 972 points. Heath added two steals to move to 17th all-time at Grinnell in that department with 89. She is also 10th in career free throws made with 220.
Kate Tomczik '22 added 17 points and eight rebounds,
Kathryn Stender '21 had 11 points and
Emmy Nyquist '23 dished out a career-best six assists to go with two steals.
Ellie Gubbrud '22 added three blocks and two steals.
After falling behind big in the first period, the Pioneers cut the gap to 20-12 by the end of the frame. They were still trailing by seven early in the second period before going on a 14-4 run to move in front by three. Heath had two buckets and a free throw during the run,
Claire Collier '21 added a 3-pointer and Tomczik, Stender and
Sofia Ahooja '22 had two points each as Grinnell went ahead 28-25 with 4:50 to go in the half.
Trailing by four at halftime, Grinnell crunched the gap to a point before the Red Hawks pulled away to lead 54-44 at the end of the third frame. Ripon was up 60-50 with 5:23 to go and 62-54 with 3:30 left before the Pioneers made things interesting.
Tomczik hit a jumper, Stender added two free throws and Tomczik and Stender connected on free throws to bring Grinnell within 62-60 with 1:48 left.
Stender made two more free throws at the 1:02 mark to make it a 64-62 game, but the Red Hawks made four down the stretch and held Grinnell scoreless in that span to secure the win.
Grinnell had plenty of movement on its all-time season charts, including Heath whose 424 points rank 10th and 102 free throws are eighth. As a team, Grinnell's 83 blocks are fifth-best for a season and 297 free throws are seventh.
Grinnell entertains Beloit College at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in Darby Gymnasium.
