Sophomore guard Hannah O'Day led the home team with 18 points in her first start of the season as the Forester women's basketball team was defeated 64-49 Wednesday night by visiting St. Norbert College.
O'Day also grabbed six rebounds and dished out a team-high four assists. She is averaging 13 points over the team's last four contests.
The only other Forester to score in double figures was fellow sophomore guard Bridget Bilek, who finished with 14 points. Senior forward Brittany Avonts and sophomore forward Paige Bobos were next on the team with five points apiece and Avonts led Lake Forest with eight rebounds.
Bobos scored the Foresters' first points of the game nearly five minutes in, ending an 11-point run by the Green Knights. The margin reached 15 points before a Lake Forest basket with less than 30 seconds on the clock made the score 18-5 after a period of play.
O'Day scored seven straight points to trim the margin to six midway through the second quarter. St. Norbert, however, quickly took the lead back into double figures and was ahead 27-18 at halftime.
The difference remained between 10 and 16 points throughout the third quarter. O'Day and Bilek each scored seven of the Foresters' 19 points in the period but the Green Knights led 49-37 at its completion.
Lake Forest pulled to within 10 points twice early in the fourth quarter but got no closer.
After shooting just 25 percent from the field in the first half, the Foresters raised that mark to 34 percent by game's end. St. Norbert connected on exactly 40 percent of field goal attempts on the evening, out-rebounded the home team 41-34, and committed just 14 turnovers while forcing 19.
The loss drops the Foresters' overall record on the season to 5-15 and Midwest Conference mark to 4-11. St. Norbert improved to 15-5 overall and 12-3 in the conference.
Lake Forest will host first-place Cornell College Saturday at 3:00 p.m.
