Senior guard Michelle Ricolcol scored 11 of her game-high 21 points in the fourth quarter but the Lake Forest College women's basketball team was edged out 62-61 at Grinnell College on Saturday.
Ricolcol, who leads the Midwest Conference in free throw percentage, made all nine of her attempts from the line in the game and is now shooting 85.7 percent from the charity stripe this season.
The Foresters trailed by 10 points with just three-and-a-half minutes to play but a three-pointer by freshman forward Paige Bobos and a basket by Ricolcol cut the margin in half with two minutes left. After a pair of Pioneer free throws, Ricolcol made a layup, converted a traditional three-point play, and knocked down two foul shots to make the score 59-57 with 30 seconds remaining. Two Grinnell free throws were matched by Ricolcol and the home team made one of two shots from the line with less than 10 seconds to play made it a three-point game and a basket by Forester junior forward Brittany Avonts cut the deficit to one but the home team was able to run out the clock to secure the win.
Lake Forest led 15-13 at the end of the first quarter but trailed 30-21 at halftime and 44-37 after three periods.
Bobos and Forester senior forward K.C. Stralka finished with 11 points apiece and Stralka grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds for the league-best 10th double-double of the year.
The visitors shot just 25 percent from the field in the first half but finished at 40 percent for the game. The Foresters connected on 16 of 20 foul shots but on just one of 12 attempts from three-point range. Grinnell shot 38.2 percent from the floor, 5-for-16 from beyond the arc, and 15-for-25 from the line. Lake Forest had a 41-36 rebounding edge but committed 14 of the game's 25 turnovers.
The loss leaves Lake Forest with an overall record of 11-10 and a Midwest Conference mark of 9-7. Grinnell improved to 15-6 overall and 12-4 in the league.
The Foresters will host Cornell College Wednesday night at 7:30 before closing out the regular season against visiting Carroll University next Saturday afternoon at 3:00. A victory in either contest or a loss by Ripon College next week would clinch a spot in the four-team MWC Tournament for Lake Forest.
