Foresters Back atop MWC Standings after Victory over Grinnell

The Lake Forest College women's basketball team hosted and defeated Grinnell College 71-54 on Saturday (January 30). The Foresters are now 13-4 overall and atop the Midwest Conference standings with a league record of 9-1. The Pioneers fell to 4-13 overall and 2-8 in conference play.

Senior forward Claire Schmidt (Kankakee, Ill./Bishop McNamara) led the Foresters with 18 points and led all players in the contest with 10 rebounds. It was her first double-double since the season opener and third of her career. The first was against Grinnell last January. Senior center Lisa Nassin (Evergreen Park, Ill./Evergreen Park) was next on the squad with 17 points, leaving her just two points shy of 1,000 for her career. Senior guard Kate Grunauer (Chicago, Ill./Marist) and freshman guard Sam Schuring (Elk Grove, Calif./Elk Grove) also reached double figures with 13 and 10 points, respectively. Grunauer matched her career-high with six steals and Schuring also tied her previous best with seven assists. Both marks were also game-highs.

Lake Forest shot 50 percent from the field in the game. Grinnell was held to 34 percent shooting overall but connected on 10 of 18 three-pointers. The Foresters were slightly out-rebounded 34-32 but forced 27 turnovers while committing just 17 themselves.

The Foresters took the lead for good on a pair of free throws by senior guard Tracy Rainey (Roselle, Ill./Lake Park) with 8:17 to play in the first half. The margin reached as many as 10 points in the period and the home team led 34-27 at halftime.

Lake Forest pulled away with 10 consecutive points early in the second half and led by between 11 and 17 points the rest of the way.

The Foresters will host another league game against Monmouth College next Tuesday (February 2) at 5:30 p.m. A live video webcast, a live radio broadcast, and live stats will be available on the Lake Forest College Athletics Web site during the contest.