The Lake Forest College women's basketball team had just eight players available for Tuesday night's contest at Ripon College, the first place team in the Midwest Conference. The Foresters kept the game close until late in the third quarter but eventually fell 80-55.
Sophomore guards Maurissa Edwards and Annie Pulaski played the entire contest and combined for 32 points, nine rebounds, five assists and six steals. Edwards was the Foresters' leading scorer with 18 points while Pulaski's 14 points and seven boards were both career-highs. Senior forward Kara Schoenlein also finished with 14 points and matched Edwards with four steals.
With their top two rebounders still on campus and the third exiting the game after a hard fall in the third quarter, the Foresters pulled down just 25 rebounds to Ripon's 48. The other significant difference on the stat sheet was three-point shooting with Lake Forest connecting on five of 15 attempts and the Red Hawks going 12-for-23.
Ripon led by just two (17-15) after a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Edwards at the end of the first quarter. The Foresters had a brief lead in the second before a 10-0 Red Hawk run put the home team on top for good. Trailing 33-27 at halftime, Lake Forest eventually closed to within three points on a long-range shot by Schoenlein with 3:50 remaining in the third. Ripon then outscored the visitors 13-5 during the rest of the period and 22-8 in the final 10 minutes of the game.
The loss dropped the Foresters' overall record to 7-15 and Midwest Conference mark to 4-10. Ripon moved to 13-9 overall and, at 12-1 in the league, the Red Hawks have clinched at least a share of the conference title.
Lake Forest will host Lawrence University Thursday evening at 5:30 before closing out the season against visiting Grinnell College Saturday at 3:00 p.m.