Junior guard Kelsey Schmitt finished with 18 points and a career-high 13 rebounds but the lake Forest College women's basketball team was defeated 73-70 in overtime by Williams College Friday at the Arizona Shootout.
Schmitt was one of three Foresters to score in doubles figures. Sophomore guard Bridget Bilek led all players in the contest with a career-high 20 points while senior forward Brittany Avonts added a season-high 10. Bilek knocked down four three-pointers in eight attempts and matched Schmitt with three assists. Avonts shot 5-for-7 from the field, grabbed seven rebounds, and blocked four shots.
Lake Forest led 18-16 after the first quarter but trailed 35-33 at halftime. A three-pointer by Schmitt tied the game at 41 with 6:24 remaining in the third quarter but Williams scored the game's next eight points and led 53-48 with a quarter to play. Facing their largest deficit of the game at 61-52 with less than six minutes left, the Foresters scored 11 consecutive points. An Avonts layup put her team up by a point with a minute left and juniorjunior forward Kara Norvet made one of two free throws with five seconds on the clock to make the score 63-61. The game went to overtime after the Ephs tied it on a layup at the buzzer.
Bilek connected on a three-pointer on the first possession of overtime but Williams scored the next four points. The Foresters regained the lead once on a basket by Schmitt with nearly three minutes remaining and again on a jumper by sophomore forward Hannah Hiland with 25 seconds left. The winning basket came on a Williams layup with 10 seconds to play and the Ephs tacked on a pair of free throws with less than a second to play to secure the victory.
The Foresters shot 34 percent from the field in the contest and were successful on seven of 19 attempts from three-point range and on 11 of 15 foul shots. Williams made 39 percent of its field goal attempts but just three of 19 tries from beyond the arc. The Ephs were 20-for-26 from the line. Lake Forest had a 51-44 edge in rebounds.
The loss dropped the Foresters' record on the season to 2-7 while Williams improved to 9-2.
Lake Forest will resume Midwest Conference play at Monmouth College Wednesday evening at 5:30.
