| Exhausted but victorious, Ripon celebrates after hanging on to beat UW-River Falls in the first round of the 2026 NCAA Tournament. Ripon athletics photo |
No. 18 Ripon outlasted No. 25 UW-River Falls and continued the best season in program history with a thrilling 84-81 overtime victory in the first round of the 2026 NCAA Division III women’s basketball tournament.
After Ripon built a 35-27 halftime lead, UW-River Falls pulled within one on Olivia Boily’s jumper with 1:04 to play in the third quarter. Halle Van Horne’s layup pushed the Red Hawks’ lead back to five points, but the Falcons scored the next six points and set up a back-and-forth battle the rest of the way. Ripon evened the score at 53 on Sophie Schlieve’s free throw, and the teams teams fought to standstills at 55, 58, 63, and 65 all.
Karsyn Nelson scored a layup in the paint, and Schlieve added another free throw to put Ripon 70-67 in the final minute of regulation. River Falls guard Zoey Buchan got fouled while shooting a three with 12 seconds left, and she made all three shots to tie the game again at 70. The Red Hawks had three shots to win the game on their final possession, but came up empty.
The see-saw battle continued in overtime with Ripon taking a 72-70 lead, then River Falls going up 75-74, and then Ripon going back in front 76-75. The Red Hawks pushed their lead to five with 39 seconds left in overtime before Buchan answered again, this time with three. Nelson made two free throws on Ripon’s ensuing possession while drawing the fifth foul on Buchan, sending her out of the game. Another Nelson free throw extended the Ripon lead to 84-79 before Emily Anderson hit a three at the buzzer to set the final score.
Schlieve led five Red Hawks in double digures with 23 points, six rebounds and three blocks. Natalie Rauwolf tallied 17 points, and Laney Havlovitz nearly had a triple-double (12 points, nine assists, and eight rebounds).
Buchan finished with 20 points and five assists for UW-River Falls (16-12), which also got 15 points and seven rebounds off the bench from Savannah Leopold.
Ripon improves to 26-2 and 4-0 against teams from Division III’s deepest conference. The WIAC had five representatives in the Field of 64, three of which advanced to the second round.
Ripon’s victory is the first for a Midwest Conference representative since Cornell defeated Illinois Wesleyan in the first round of the 2013 NCAA Tournament. It’s Ripon’s third NCAA Tournament victory, but first since 2005.
The Red Hawks will try to extend their run against regional hosts Concordia-Moorhead at 8 pm CT on Saturday night. The Cobbers, who were ranked No. 20 in the most recent Top 25 poll, defeated UW-Superior, 73-61.