RIO VISTA — Ripon Christian knocked off the top-seeded team a year ago to make a surprising run to the Sac-Joaquin Section Division V finals.
The Knights will have another opportunity to do so after toppling No. 4 Rio Vista 51-35 on the road Tuesday. They’ll face Capital Christian (20-7) of Sacramento, the reigning champion, in the semifinal round Thursday.
“We’re familiar with them a little bit and hopefully we’ll have a better result this time,” Ripon Christian coach Ed Mulder said. “You always like to be with your home crowd, but we actually play well on the road. We’ll give them a run and play the game.”
Ripon Christian (15-11) had little trouble in dispatching Rio Vista (16-9) in the first-round affair.  Molly Hoeksema scored 10 of her 14 points in the opening quarter to help the Knights build an early 15-5 lead.
Jessica Van Vliet was the top scorer with 17 points, and Kyera Mackey led the Rams with 10. Taylor Porter, Rio Vista’s leading scorer on the season with 14 points per game, was limited to just three points.
The Knights had a 27-11 halftime advantage and led by as much as 23 in the fourth quarter.
“The girls executed exactly what we were working on,” Mulder said. “We moved the ball real well, we hit our open shots, but the biggest thing was that we did a really nice job on defense.”