The Lake Forest College women's basketball team was defeated 63-49 at Grinnell College on Saturday, ending the squad's three-game winning streak. Forester freshman forward K.C. Stralka matched her career-high and tied for team-high honors with 12 points in the contest.
Strakla shot 6-for-12 from the field and added five rebounds and two assists. Senior forward Liz Radtke also scored a dozen points, led the visitors with nine rebounds, and dished out three assists.
Lake Forest shot just 31 percent from the field and made only four of 19 attempts from three-point range and seven of 12 foul shots. Grinnell connected on nearly 45 percent of field goal attempts but also struggled from three-point range (3-for-15) and the free throw line (16-for-29). The Pioneers had a 43-37 edge in rebounds.
The Foresters never led in the contest but trailed by just one before the Pioneers closed out the opening period with a 10-0 run to take a 32-21 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Baskets by Stralka cut the deficit to just five points twice after halftime, the last at 46-41 with 6:44 to play, but Lake Forest would get no closer. Grinnell scored 13 of the game's next 15 points to put the game out of reach.
The Foresters and Pioneers are now tied with Ripon College for fifth place in the Midwest Conference standings with a 7-6 record in league play. Lake Forest fell to 9-9 overall and Grinnell is 8-9.
Lake Forest will host Beloit College (2-15, 1-11 MWC) Tuesday evening at 5:00.
