Sophomore guard Kelsey Burton recorded a career-high six steals and scored a game-high 16 points to help lead the Forester women's basketball team to a convincing 83-57 victory over Knox College at home on Saturday.
Burton knocked down three of Lake Forest's eight three-pointers and also chipped in with seven rebounds, three assists, and a pair of blocked shots. She continues to rank among the Midwest Conference leaders in scoring, rebounding, assists, and steals this season.
Senior forward Hannah Hiland was next on the team with 13 points while junior guard Zaria Sydnor and sophomore guard Jaianna Brooks each added a dozen. Sydnor led the home team with four assists and junior forward Molly Schoenlein with nine rebounds.
The Foresters out-rebounded the Prairie Fire 41-32 and limited the visitors to 33.9 percent shooting from the floor. Lake Forest, which entered the contest leading the MWC in three-point field goal percentage during league play, made exactly half of their field goal attempts, including eight of 16 from beyond the arc.
The home team scored the game's first seven points and led throughout. The margin reached 15 points by the end of the opening quarter and 23 early in the second. Knox closed back to within 15 (37-22) at halftime and made back-to-back three-pointers at the end an otherwise evenly-played third quarter to make the score 54-45 in favor of Lake Forest with 10 minutes remaining. After a layup pulled the Prairie Fire to within seven early in the fourth, they were held scoreless while eight different Foresters combined for 18 points in the next seven minutes to put the game out of reach.
Lake Forest is now 6-7 overall and 5-1 in conference play this season. Knox fell to 7-7 overall and 4-3 in the league.
The Foresters will host Lawrence University next Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.