Behind a season-high 17 points and 13 rebounds from junior forward Molly Schoenlein, the Lake Forest College women's basketball team prevailed 75-66 Wednesday evening at Beloit College.
Schoenlein shot 7-for-11 from the field, made each of her three free throw attempts, and added four blocked shots to her stat line. Sophomore guard Kelsey Burton also contributed to the Forester victory in many ways, leading the visitors with 18 points, grabbing seven rebounds, dishing out three assists, and chipping in with two steals and a blocked shot. Sophomore guard Jaianna Brooks and senior forward Hannah Hiland also reached double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively, and Brooks also finished with a team-high five assists.
Beloit jumped out to the early lead, outscoring the Foresters 27-16 in the opening period. Lake Forest came back in the second, finishing the quarter on a 15-4 run and tying the game at 33 on a traditional three-point play by Hiland in the final minute.
The visitors held a one-point lead early in the third quarter but the Buccaneers closed it out on an 11-4 run and was ahead 54-47 with 10 minutes to play in the contest. Schoenlein took down the stretch, scoring 11 points, pulling down seven boards, and blocking three shots in the final quarter. She had seven points during a 15-3 Forester run to open the period but five straight points by Beloit tied the game at 62 with less than four minutes remaining. A Burton free throw at the 3:35 mark put Lake Forest on top for good and she knocked down a jumper the next time down the court. After a basket by the home team with 2:50 to play trimmed the deficit to one, the Foresters rattled off 10 consecutive points, a run that ended on a Buccaneer shot at the buzzer.
The Foresters shot a season-high 50.9 percent from the field on the evening while limiting Beloit to just 30.5 percent. The Buccaneers were 5-for-7 on three-pointers in the first quarter but made just three of 16 shots from beyond the arc the rest of the way. Lake Forest was 4-for-10 from long range in the contest and outscored the home team 15-8 at the free throw line.
Lake Forest is now 5-7 overall this season and moved into a tie for second place in the Midwest Conference standings at 4-1 in league play. Beloit fell to 2-10 overall and 1-4 in the conference.
The Foresters will host Knox College Saturday afternoon at 3:00.