Lake Forest Falls to Ripon in MWC Tournament Semifinals

The Forester women's basketball team saw its season come to an end Friday afternoon (February 26) after a 71-49 loss to Ripon College in the semifinals of the Midwest Conference Tournament. Lake Forest fell to 15-9 on the year while the Red Hawks raised their record to 18-6 going into Saturday's tourney final against either Illinois College or host St. Norbert College.

Senior center Lisa Nassin (Evergreen Park, Ill./Evergreen Park) led Lake Forest with 14 points and a game-high nine rebounds on Friday. She finished the season with 401 points, the eighth-highest mark in program history, and completed her career with 1,090 points, which ranks fifth in team annals. Her .602 field goal percentage on the season ranks second in team history behind the mark she set last year and she finished her career at a Forester record .574.

Senior forward Claire Schmidt (Kankakee, Ill./Bishop McNamara) and guard Tracy Rainey (Roselle, Ill./Lake Park) also reached double figures with 13 and 10 points, respectively. Rainey also recorded three steals and pulled down eight rebounds in the contest, moving into ninth place in school history with 497 boards in her career.

The Foresters shot just 35.3 percent from the field and 1-for-10 from three-point range in the game. The Red Hawks connected on 46.3 percent of their field goal attempts and eight of 18 three-pointers. Lake Forest had a slight 34-33 edge in rebounds but committed 19 turnovers while forcing just 13.

Ripon held a slim lead early in the game before scoring the final 12 points of the opening period to take a 33-15 halftime lead.

The Red Hawks did not slow down after intermission, beginning the second half on a 20-6 run to extend their lead to 53-21. The Foresters got no closer than 25 points until the final minute of the game.

Looking ahead to next season, Lake Forest will need to replace Rainey, Nassin, Schmidt, and fellow seniors Kate Grunauer (Chicago, Ill./Marist) and Paige Keasler (Lockport, Ill./Lockport). The five players have helped the Foresters post a four-year record of 72-27.