APPLETON, Wis. -- Jessica DeHamer made a pair of free throws with four seconds left to give the Ripon College women's basketball team a 54-52 Midwest Conference win at Lawrence University on Saturday.
Lawrence (3-7, 0-3 MWC) rallied from an eight-point deficit in the final four minutes but couldn't get a shot off to tie the game before the final buzzer sounded.
Carrie Van Groll paced Lawrence and all scorers with 20 points and picked up a double-double with 10 rebounds. Caresse Reiland added 18 points, five rebounds, and five blocks. Emily Meyer led Ripon (4-7, 1-3) with 15 points and nine rebounds. DeHamer finished with 12 points.
Lawrence led by as many as seven points in the first half at 22-15, but Ripon finished the first half on a 7-2 run to trim the lead to 24-22 at the break.
Ripon slowly built its advantage to as many as eight points in the second half, the final time coming on DeHamer's layup with 4:17 left that gave the Red Hawks a 50-42 edge. Reiland countered with a layup for the Vikings, and Van Groll's fastbreak layup cut the margin to 50-46 with 3:15 left.
Jeni Yaeger hit a pair of free throws for Ripon, but Van Groll's layup, and Kelly Mulcahy's short jumper cut the lead to 52-50 with 1:02 remaining. After a missed 3-pointer and a pair of missed free throws, Lawrence got the ball back with a chance to tie. Reiland was fouled and hit both free throws with 14 seconds left to tie the game at 52-52.
DeHamer was then fouled going to the basket and hit the winning free throws with four seconds remaining. The Vikings got the ball to Mulcahy but her jumper was after the buzzer had sounded.
Lawrence returns to action when it plays at Beloit on Tuesday.