The Forester women's basketball team was defeated 77-51 by visiting Carthage College Wednesday night, thanks in large part to home team's 21 turnovers.
Seven of those miscues occurred in the first quarter as the Firebirds jumped out to a 21-10 lead. Lake Forest was outscored 21-6 in the second and trailed by 25 (41-16) at halftime.
A layup by Forester sophomore guard Katie Neher with 6:18 to play in the third quarter made it a 19-point game but the home team got no closer and the margin was in the 20s for the rest of the game.
After scoring four points and grabbing two rebounds in the first half, Lake Forest senior guard Kelsey Burton managed to finish the night with 17 points and a dozen boards to earn game-high honors in both categories. She also became just the fourth player in program history to surpass 600 career rebounds and has 601 with two games remaining.
Neher and sophomore center Katie Fagan were next on the home team with nine points apiece and Fagan also pulled down nine rebounds while Neher added three assists.
The Foresters shot 32.2 percentage from the field on the night while Carthage was at 46.9 percent. The Firebirds outscored Lake Forest 36-9 on three-pointers and committed just 13 turnovers.
The loss dropped the Foresters' record to 1-5 while Carthage finished the year 4-10.
Lake Forest will play its final home game of the season against Ripon College Saturday afternoon at 2:00. Burton, the team's lone graduating senior, will be honored before the contest.
