Lake Forest Defeats Visiting Ripon to Take over First Place in MWC

The Forester women's basketball team hosted and defeated Ripon College 75-65 Friday evening (January 22). Both teams entered the game 10-3 overall and undefeated in six Midwest Conference games. They will not face each other again during the regular season.

Lake Forest senior center Lisa Nassin (Evergreen Park, Ill./Evergreen Park) led all players in the game with 27 points and 10 rebounds. She shot 11-fo-14 from the field and 5-for-6 six from the foul line in her third double-double of the season. Senior guard Tracy Rainey (Roselle, Ill./Lake Park) and freshman guard Sam Schuring (Elk Grove, Calif./Elk Grove) also reached double figures with 17 and 11 points, respectively. Schuring led the home team with five assists and junior guard Emily Weber (Cincinnati, Ohio/Seven Hills School) recorded a team-high five steals.

The Foresters shot 57.1 percent from the floor while the Red Hawks connected on just 37.9 percent of their field goal attempts. Lake Forest did not make a three-pointer but did knock down 19 of 24 free throws. The home team held a slight 34-31 edge in rebounds but committed 26 of the game's 50 turnovers.

Lake Forest never trailed and a basket by Nassin less than two minutes into the contest broke a 2-2 tie and put the home team ahead for good. The margin reached as many as 18 points (38-20) in the opening period and the Foresters led 40-26 at halftime.

The lead was 18 points again early in the second half when Ripon began a 16-4 run that made the score 52-46 with 11:25 remaining. Lake Forest extended its advantage to nine points but six straight Red Hawk points trimmed it to just three (57-54) with 7:52 left on the clock. The Foresters scored the game's next nine points and the lead remained in double figures until the closing minutes of the contest.

The Foresters will host Beloit College tomorrow afternoon at 3:00. 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.