The Lake Forest College women's basketball team was edged out 68-65 at Illinois College Wednesday evening. Junio rpoint guard Sam Schuring led the Foresters with 14 points and added six rebounds, three assists, and a pair of blocked shots in the game.
Schuring shot 5-for-8 from the field and 4-for-5 from the free throw line. Sophomore guard/forward Gina Ambrose and junior forward Liz Radtke also reached double figures with 13 and 12 points, respectively. Ambrose shot an efficient 4-for-6 from the field, 2-for-3 from three-point range, and 3-for-4 from the line. She also recorded a pair of steals.
The Foresters shot slightly better from the field (37.5% to 36.8%) and made one more three-pointer and four more free throws than Illinois College. Lake Forest also committed three fewer turnovers (19-16) than the home team. The Lady Blues, however, had a 50-37 advantage in rebounds and collected 29 offensive boards in the contest.
The teams traded runs early on with the Foresters jumping out to a 10-2 lead and the Lady Blues coming back to tie the score at 13. Lake Forest then scored 13 points in a row and extended its lead to 14 points (33-19) with three-and-a-half minutes to play in the period. The home team rattled off 10 straight points before the Foresters scored the last four of the half to take a 36-29 lead.
Seven straight points by Illinois College beginning with 12 minutes to play in the second half tied the score at 45. The lead changed hands five times in the final 10 minutes and neither team led by more than three points during that span. One three-pointer by Ambrose tied the game at 54 and another gave the visitors a 60-58 advantage a few minutes later. The Foresters trailed 63-60 before freshman guard Danielle Canulli tied the score on a tradition three-point play with 1:14 to play. The Lady Blues regained the lead on a basket with 46 seconds left but Ambrose made a pair of foul shots to tie the score again at 65 with 28 seconds on the clock. Illinois College called a timeout with eight ticks left and made a three-pointer in the final seconds for the victory.
Lake Forest fell to 7-8 overall and 6-5 in Midwest Conference play while the Lady Blues raised their overall record to 4-12 and league mark to 4-7.
The Foresters will host Grinnell College at 1:00 Saturday afternoon.