GREENCASTLE, IND. -- Rose-Hulman Institute of
Technology placed four starters in double figures with a balanced
scoring attack to defeat Ripon College 71-54 in women's basketball
action on Wednesday.
With the victory, Rose-Hulman captured third place honors in the Amy Hasbrook Memorial Tournament.
Sophomore Lauren Meadows (Indianapolis/Brebeuf) led the Fightin' Engineer offense with a career-high 17 points. For her efforts in the two games, Meadows was named to the all-tournament squad.
Senior Donna Marsh (Mobile, Ala./Baker) recorded a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds.
Junior Alisa Dickerson (Elizabethtown, Ky.) pitched in with a well rounded performance of 13 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.
Freshman Kelsey Ploof (Noblesville) added a career-high 12 points with seven rebounds.
Freshman Heather Finnell (Decatur, Tenn./Cleveland) scored nine points with six assists, and senior Nicole Klass (Evansville/North) contributed five points.
Rose-Hulman jumped out to an early 7-2 advantage at the 16:04 mark on a three-pointer by Meadows. The Red Hawks rallied with an 8-2 run to capture a 10-9 lead on a score by Raymond at the 12:24 mark.
Rose-Hulman regained leads of 14-12 and 18-16 off a free throw by Marsh and a layup by Meadows. The Engineers rebuilt a four-point edge at 24-20 on a three-point play by Marsh at the 4:48 mark, before Ripon rallied to knot the score at 28-28 at the break.
Rose-Hulman relied on a 12-2 run to build a 40-32 lead at the 17:38 mark on back-to-back three-pointers from Finnell and Klass.
Ripon trimmed the margin to four points midway through the second half, before a score by Finnell at the 9:03 mark put the Engineers ahead 49-44.
Rose-Hulman built its lead to nine points at 53-44 on two free throws by Ploof at the 7:37 mark. After Ripon scored five straight points to move within 53-49, two free throws by Dickerson and a layup by Marsh at the 6:13 mark made the Engineer lead 57-49.
Dickerson and Klass each made two free throws to push Rose-Hulman's lead to 61-51, and a three-pointer by Meadows helped the lead reach 12 points at 64-52 to secure the victory.
Rose-Hulman improved to 4-7 on the season, while Ripon
fell to 4-5. The Fightin' Engineers return to action on Jan.
5 with a 6 p.m. home matchup with Manchester College.