The Lake Forest College women's basketball team was defeated 64-61 at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, the 23rd ranked team in the country, Friday night in the season-opener for both squads. Forester sophomore forward K.C. Stralka led all players in the contest with a career-high 13 points on the night.
Stralka shot 6-for-10 from the field and added three of the Foresters' 18 steals in the contest. Junior guard Abby Wiedman also reached double figures with 11 points and she made three of four attempts from three-point range. Senior guard Sam Schuring finished with nine points, eight rebounds, eight assists, and five steals while junior guard Danielle Canulli added eight points for the visitors.
The Foresters shot 41.2 percent from the field and from beyond the arc, where they made five of 12 attempts. Stevens Point was much more accurate at 49.1 percent from the floor but the Pointers connected just twice on 10 three-point tries. Both teams made six free throws, but the home team missed 11 times from the charity stripe while Lake Forest was off just twice. Stevens Point had a 44-29 edge in rebounds but committed 27 of the game's 47 turnovers.
A traditional three-point play by Stralka with 5:07 to play in the first half gave the Foresters their first lead of the game at 26-25. Lake Forest had a three-point lead less than two minutes later but a 7-0 Stevens Point run to close out the period gave the home team a 39-34 advantage at intermission.
Stevens Point outscored the Foresters 18-6 in the first nine minutes of the halftime to extend its lead to 17 points (57-40). Lake Forest, however, scored 21 of the game's next 23 points to take a 61-59 lead with less than three minutes to play in the game. The Foresters held the Pointers scoreless for eight-and-a-half minutes until a basket with just 51 seconds remaining tied the score at 61. Lake Forest was unable to score again and a Stevens Point free throw with 19 seconds on the clock and two more with four ticks left secured the win for the home team.
Lake Forest will take on the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in another Pointer Tip-Off Classic game Saturday at 1:00 p.m.