Lake Forest College Sports Information
January 25, 2003
Contact: Mike Wajerski, SID

McCants Scores 1,000th Point as Foresters Defeat Beloit and Ripon
Team moves into three-way tie for first place in MWC
  

Katie McCants is the program's fifth 1,000-point scorer.
LAKE FOREST, IL - The Forester women's basketball team collected a pair of Midwest Conference victories at home over the weekend (January 24-25) to move into a three-way tie for first place in the league. Lake Forest defeated Beloit College 84-61 on Friday and Ripon College, who had been undefeated in MWC play, 66-55 on Saturday. The Foresters are now 14-1 overall for the first time in the program's history and 7-1 in league games. Beloit fell to 4-10 overall and 1-6 in the MWC. Ripon is 13-2 overall and 7-1 in the MWC.

On Friday, senior forward Katie McCants (Menasha, WI/Menasha) scored 19 points, including the 1,000th of her career. Only four others in school history have reached that mark. She shot 8-for-12 from the field and added five rebounds, two assists, and four steals.

The Foresters' leading scorer was actually sophomore guard Kristy Freeman (Palatine, IL/Palatine), who had a career-high 20 points and was 4-for-7 from three-point range. Sophomore forward Shannon Clerkin (Barneveld, WI/Barneveld) returned from injury and scored 12 points.

Lake Forest shot 45.6% from the field, 42.1% (8/19) from beyond the three-point arc, and 77.8% (14/18) from the free throw line. Beloit made 44.2% of its field goal attempts, 3-of-6 from long-range, and 80.0% (12/15) from the line. The Foresters were out-rebounded 40-29 but collected 20 steals and forced 33 Buccaneer turnovers.

On Saturday, McCants and Clerkin each scored a game-high 14 points and pulled down 11 and eight rebounds, respectively. Four other Foresters had at least seven points, including sophomore guard Alissa Mildebrath (Carol Stream, IL/West Chicago), who took advantage of her first start of the year with eight points, eight rebounds, two assists, a blocked shot, and two steals.

Lake Forest out-shot Ripon both from the field (36.2% to 35.6%) and the free throw line (82.6% to 71.4%). The Foresters also out-rebounded the Red Hawks 43-38.

Ripon led 10-0 after the first two-and-a-half minutes of the game. Lake Forest battled back and finally took its first lead (24-23) with 6:24 to play in the first half and led 32-31 at the break. After Ripon scored the second half's first basket, Lake Forest used a 15-5 run to take a nine-point lead with 12 minutes to play. The Red Hawks closed the gap to a single point (49-48) with eight minutes remaining but could not retake the lead. An 11-1 run helped the home team put the game away.

The Foresters will be on the road next weekend (Jan. 31-Feb. 1). They will play Friday evening (5:30) at St. Norbert College (11-4, 7-1 MWC) and Saturday afternoon (2:00) at Beloit (4-11, 1-7).

Lake Forest - Beloit Box Score
Lake Forest - Ripon Box Score