Contact: Jenna McElroy, Sports Info & Social Media Intern, mcelroy@midwestconference.org
 
GRINNELL, Iowa – The 2019 Midwest Conference (MWC) Women’s Basketball Tournament is taking place this Friday and Saturday hosted by MWC Champion Ripon College. The Red Hawks earned hosting rights for the second consecutive season while winning their first outright MWC Championship since 2009 after sharing the title with Cornell last year.
 
The Red Hawks will face No. 4 seed St. Norbert in Friday's first semifinal, set to tip-off at 5:00 p.m., followed by No. 2 Monmouth College vs. No. 3 Lake Forest College at 7:00 p.m. Tournament information, including the video and results, can be found at the championship page.
 
Ripon’s league-leading defense, that has only allowed 53.6 points per game, came up with defensive stops late to defeat Lake Forest 57-53 on February 13 to clinch the No. 1 seed for the Red Hawks. After a loss at No. 2 seed Monmouth in late January, the Red Hawks then went on a seven-game win streak to finish the season, including avenging their loss to the Scots with a dominating 69-47 win in early February.
 
The Green Knights needed some help to reach the MWC Tournament after a slow start to the season. They lost five of their first six conference games, though the lone win did come against Ripon, before rolling off victories in nine of their last 12. The late-season surge was almost for naught as St. Norbert dropped a five-point lead in the final minutes of the last regular season game and lost in overtime.
 
That left the Green Knights pulling for their rival Ripon to pull out their own overtime win at Knox. The Red Hawks came through, and now the two teams will meet in the MWC Tournament for the third time in four years. The teams split the season series with each winning at home. As mentioned above, St. Norbert won in early December on a Sarah Ratajczyk game-winning shot before Ripon dominated the paint in the rematch.
 
The third matchup of the season looks to be a defensive battle as St. Norbert is just behind the league-leading Red Hawk defense with an average of 60.6 points allowed per game. The teams are also evenly matched on offense as Ripon ranks second in field goal percentage at .411 with St. Norbert in third at .407. The Red Hawks have the advantage in the paint as they rank in the top three in both offensive and defensive rebounding.
 
Senior Maggie Oimoen leads the Red Hawks with 14.6 points on 55.7 percent shooting and 7.7 rebounds per game while racking up the second most blocks in the MWC at 41. Behind her, Ripon has received balanced scoring as Jesi Nay (8.0), Natalie Geiger (7.8), Alyassa Burgess (6.6) and Laurissa Johnson (5.0) all average at least five points per game.
 
St. Norbert also features balanced scoring led by Macie Zurfluh’s 13.3 and Ratajczyk’s 10.4 points per game followed by Olivia DeCleene (9.6), Christine Olijnyk (8.8), and Sarah Neumann (6.8). Ratajczyk doesn’t take quite as many shots as Zurfluh or Ripon’s Oimoen, but she is efficient when she does as the center leads the conference with a .678 field goal percentage. Zurfluh finished the regular season ranked first in assists at 5.1 per game and steals with 76 (3.0 per game).
 
Ripon or St. Norbert will face the winner of the second semifinal between No. 2 Monmouth and No. 3 Lake Forest College. The Scots are making their first appearance since 2014 after seeing a nine-win improvement from last year. Lake Forest is playing in its second straight MWC Tournament for the first time since back-to-back appearances in 2006-07 and 2007-08.
 
Where the first semifinal looks to be a defensive game, the offense will be a highlight of the second. The Foresters lead the Conference in scoring at 68.1 points per game, with the Scots a slim .2 behind averaging 67.9. Monmouth has the better field goal and three-point percentages with a league-best .444 and .354 respectively, while Lake Forest has the top free throw percentage at .726. The Scots’ offense features three of the top-five scorers in the Conference as Becca Gallis is second (17.1) followed by Carley Turnbull in fourth (15.8) and Shayne Smith in fifth (15.2). Monmouth also has the league’s second-best rebounder in Allie Meyers as she averages 9.2 per game. 
 
Though Monmouth may lead the Conference as a team in three-point shooting, Lake Forest has the league-leader in Kelsey Burton who shoots .405 from behind the arc and leads the team with 14.1 points per game. Behind Burton, Hannah Hiland is averaging 13.2 points per game while leading the MWC with a .857 free throw percentage. 
 
As with most team’s on the women’s side, the Scots and Foresters split the season series with each winning at home. The first matchup featured a pair of 3-0 teams with Monmouth handing Lake Forest its first Conference loss of the season before the Foresters returned the favor later in the season to move the two into a tie in the standings. Both games were back-and-forth affairs with the home team using free throws to pull away in the final minutes for the win.
 
The winners of the Friday night semi-finals will advance to Saturday’s MWC Tournament final set to start at 3:00 p.m. The winner of the championship game receives the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament.
 
Admission to the MWC tournament is $5 for adults and $3 for students and youth. Children under 3 are free. MWC students, faculty and staff with valid campus identification will be admitted free of charge.