Finally playing in it first home game of the season, the Lake Forest College women's basketball team was defeated 72-63 by Monmouth College Tuesday night.
Forester junior guard Katie Neher scored 20 of her game-high 24 points after halftime. Her three-pointer at the 5:51 mark of the third quarter broke a 32-32 tie and the home team led by three again after her basket less than a minute later. The Fighting Scots scored 11 of the game's next 13 points, however, and never gave the lead back.
The Foresters trailed by just two going into the fourth but surrendered the first five points of the final period and got no closer than four the rest of the way, despite 11 points by Neher in the quarter.
Neher finished the night shooting 9-for-16 from the field. Junior forward Annie Lally was next on the team with 10 points, including six in the final period, while sophomore guard Maurissa Edwards and senior guard Ely Dobrodt added nine apiece.
Lake Forest shot 40.3 percent from the field while Monmouth was slightly better at 43.5 percent. The Scots outscored the Foresters 24-12 on three pointers and had a commanding 47-32 edge on the boards.
The loss dropped Lake Forest's overall record to 2-4 and evened the team's Midwest Conference mark at 1-1. A victory in its league opener improved Monmouth 's overall record to 4-2.
The Foresters will travel to Iowa on Saturday to play at Cornell College. The start time was recently moved up an hour to 4:00 p.m.