The Lake Forest College women's basketball team posted a 77-76 overtime victory at Grinnell College on Saturday in the Midwest Conference opener for both teams.
Sophomore guard Marissa Edwards scored six of the Foresters' 10 points in the overtime period. She gave the visitors the lead on a pair of free throws with 2:18 to play and her layup with a minute-and-a-half left made it a 77-73 game. Grinnell cut the deficit in half on the next possession and drew a foul with just .5 seconds on the clock. The first free throw was good but the second was not and Lake Forest escaped with the victory.
Forester junior guard Katie Neher forced overtime by scoring the final six points of regulation. Her layup with 2:44 remaining trimmed the Pioneer lead to four points and she knocked down another basket a minute later to make it a two-point game. She was fouled with 41.8 seconds on the clock and made both free throws for the final points of the fourth quarter.
Lake Forest was 22-for-29 from the line but shot just 37.9 percent from the field. The home team shot 34.2 percent but scored 30 points on three-pointers to the foresters' 15. Led by sophomore forward Brooke Johnson's 17 boards, the visitors had a 52-47 edge in rebounds.
Junior forward Annie Lally shot 9-for-15 from the field, grabbed seven rebounds, and scored a career-high 24 points. Neher turned in her second consecutive 22-point performance and led all players in the game with six assists. Edwards also reached double figures with a career-high 16 points.
The victory evened the Foresters' overall record on the season at 2-2 while the loss dropped the Pioneers to 1-3.
Lake Forest will travel just north of the state line on Tuesday to play at Carthage College. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.