Lake Forest Hopes to Repeat as MWC Champs, Extend Jackie Slaats’ Career
College’s Athletic Director set to resign from coaching after 22nd season with the team

Jackie Slaats

Nicole Baich

Lisa Nassin

The Foresters finished the regular season with a 20-3 overall record and a 14-2 mark in the MWC, the second-best record in the league. The team will face third-place Carroll College (19-4, 13-3 MWC) in the tourney semifinals Friday evening at 5:00. Top-seeded St. Norbert (19-4, 15-1 MWC) will host fourth-place Beloit College (14-9, 10-6 MWC) at 7:00 and the winners will advance to Saturday’s 2:00 p.m. title game. The conference champion will receive the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Lake Forest, the defending MWC champion, is seeking its seventh league title under 22nd-year head coach Jackie Slaats, who will resign from that position following the season. Slaats enters the weekend with a career record of 385-132 and an overall winning percentage (.745) that ranks among the top 20 in NCAA Division III history among coaches with at least 10 years of experience. The six-time MWC Coach of the Year will finish her career with a 220-71 record in league play. She will remain the College’s Athletic Director and will take on a new role as a Senior Advisor to the President.

This year’s Foresters are led by centers Nicole Baich (Westchester, Ill./Nazareth Academy), a senior, and Lisa Nassin (Evergreen Park, Ill./Evergreen Park), a sophomore. They combine to average 22.3 points, 12.0 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 3.3 steals, and 1.3 blocked shots per game. Sophomore forward Claire Schmidt (Kankakee, Ill./Bishop McNamara) has led the team in scoring since being inserted into the starting lineup 10 games ago and is now averaging 9.0 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. Senior guards Beth Lucas (Arlington Heights, Ill./John Hersey) and Eileen Walsh (Hickory Hills, Ill./Amos Alonzo Stagg) score a total of 15.8 points per contest and have amassed a combined 99 assists and 98 steals so far this season. Junior forward Ashley Cretacci (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) and sophomore guards Tracy Rainey (Roselle, Ill./Lake Park) and Kate Grunauer (Chicago, Ill./Marist) have each started at least half of the team’s games and combine for more than 15 points per contest.

Lake Forest’s greatest strength is likely its depth. Aside from the eight players mentioned in the paragraph above, four others have appeared in every contest and an additional four have seen action in more than half of the team’s games. The eight have combined to score well over 20 percent of the Foresters’ total points this season.