The Forester women's basketball team posted a 70-68 come-from-behind victory over visiting Monmouth College on Saturday. Forester freshman guard Sam Acosta made four three-pointers and scored a season-high 12 points in the contest.
Seven Lake Forest players scored at least seven points in the contest, although Acosta and senior forward Tabytha Harvey were the only two in double figures. Harvey led the team with 14 points and added five rebounds, three steals, and a pair of blocked shots.
Sophomore forward Liz Radtke led the Foresters with a career-high-tying nine rebounds, sophomore guard Sam Schuring dished out a team-high five assists, and senior guard Emily Weber led the squad with four steals.
The home team shot just 37 percent from the field and 9-for-15 from the free throw line. The Fighting Scots made 48 percent of their field goal attempts and all but one of 14 foul shots. Both teams connected seven times from beyond the arc, although it took Lake Forest 26 tries and Monmouth 18 to do it. The Foresters were out-rebounded 43-32 but forced 30 turnovers while committing half as many.
Monmouth scored the game's first six points and did not trail in the first half. The margin reached nine points (15-6) early in the contest but the Foresters chipped away at the deficit and eventually tied the score at 31 with four minutes to play in the period. It was tied again at 34 before the Scots scored the final six points of the half.
Lake Forest trailed by a game-high 12 points with less than 11 minutes to play before scoring 18 in a row to take a 63-57 leadseven minutes later. The 18-0 run came less than 24 hours after the Foresters scored 25 points in a row during the second half of their 78-62 victory at Beloit College Friday night. Acosta's third three-pointer of the contest gave the home team its first lead with 5:20 to play and her fourth broke a 65-65 tie with 1:33 on the clock. The Scots trimmed the lead back to one on a basket with 1:07 to play and appeared poised to regain the advantage before a short shot was blocked by Harvey with less than 30 seconds left. Harvey was fouled with 17.4 seconds remaining and made both free throws. Monmouth went to the line with 4.2 seconds left, made the first free throw, and intentionally missed the second. A battle for the rebound ensued and, although the Scots ended up with the ball, time ran out before they could get a shot off.
The Foresters are now 12-8 overall and 10-5 in Midwest Conference play this season. Monmouth fell to 13-7 overall and 11-4 in the league. The same two teams will play each other again at Monmouth Monday evening at 5:00. A live video webcast of the game will be available at www.pennatlantic.com.
