Lake Forest College Sports Information
February 18, 2004
Contact: Mike Wajerski, SID

Foresters Finish Third in MWC After Winning at Monmouth
Clerkin records fourth straight double-double

 Clerkin has reached double figures in double-doubles.
MONMOUTH, IL - The Forester women’s basketball team defeated Monmouth College 63-47 on the road Wednesday (February 18) to close out the 2003-04 regular season. The Foresters have clinched third place in the Midwest Conference standings with a 12-4 league record and are currently 16-7 overall. Monmouth is now 5-17 overall and 3-12 in the conference with one more game on its schedule.

Junior forward Shannon Clerkin (Barneveld, WI/Barneveld) finished the evening with a game-high 14 points and 10 rebounds and added two blocked shots and a steal. The double-double was her fourth in a row and 10th this season. She shot 5-for-10 from the field and 4-for-5 from the free throw line in the game and leads the team with a .582 field goal percentage on the year.

Senior forward Tangara Cross (Garland, TX/Naaman Forest) was next on the Foresters with 13 points and eight rebounds. She shot 6-for-11 from the floor and added a blocked shot and a steal.

Junior guard Kristy Freeman (Palatine, IL/Palatine) came off the bench to score nine points and both junior guard Kandyce Green (Chicago, IL/Marian Catholic) and senior guard Sherry Wagner (Chicago, IL/Mother McAuley) added eight.

While the Foresters’ .379 shooting percentage in the game is well below their season average of .419, the team held Monmouth to just 28.4% shooting for the game, including a 4-for-29 (13.8%) performance in the first half. The home team actually out-rebounded Lake Forest 46-41 but committed four more turnovers (22-18) than the visitors and shot just 6-for-6 from the free throw line while the Foresters knocked down 14 of 20.

The Fighting Scots’ only lead of the game came on the opening basket. Lake Forest scored the next 16 points and extended its advantage to as many as 20 points (26-6) during the first half, which ended with the Foresters leading 29-11.

After the visitors scored the first seven points after intermission, Monmouth finally caught fire and rattled off 15 consecutive points of its own and eventually pulled to within six (39-33) with 11:39 to play. A 6-0 Lake Forest run increased the lead to 13 points and the margin did not dip below nine the rest of the way.

The Foresters will not play again until competing in the Midwest Conference Championship Tournament on February 27. Lake Forest will take on #2-seed St. Norbert College (15-7, 13-2 MWC) in one semifinal and host and top-seed Ripon College (18-4, 14-1) will face #4 Grinnell College (15-7, 9-6) in the other.

 Box Score