Lake Forest College Sports Information
January 26th, 2002
Contact: Mike Wajerski, SID

Lake Forest Upset by St.Norbert, 69-66
Teams split season series for 9th time in 15 years
  

Shannon Clerkin's 10 rebounds gave her 26 for the weekend.
LAKE FOREST, IL - For the second straight day, the Lake Forest College women's basketball team's best effort left them just short of victory as they fell at home to St. Norbert College Saturday (January 26th) afternoon by a score of 69-66. The loss is the third straight for the Foresters, whose last three-game skid was in December of 1987. Despite the defeat, two-time defending Midwest Conference Champion Lake Forest remains in good position to qualify for its fifth straight MWC Championship Tournament.

Junior forward Katie McCants (Menasha, WI/Menasha) shot 7-of-12 from the floor and 2-of-2 from the free throw line to lead the team with 16 points. She also added eight rebounds and three assists.

After scoring a career-high 17 points the night before, sophomore guard Sherry Wagner (Chicago, IL/Mother McAuley) nearly matched that total with 15 points on Saturday. Wagner made four of seven attempts from beyond the three-point arc. Freshman forward Shannon Clerkin (Barneveld, WI/Barneveld) pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds, giving her 26 in two games this weekend. Clerkin, who shot 5-of-9 from the field, also added 10 points and three assists.

A 46-34 edge in rebounds kept the Foresters in the game, but eight fewer attempts from the free throw line proved to be the team's downfall. St. Norbert, the most accurate three-point field goal shooting team in the conference, connected on 7 of 15 attempts from beyond the arc while Lake Forest, who is listed just below the Green Knights, made 7 of 19. The Foresters made two more field goals overall in nine extra attempts and both teams turned the ball over 17 times.

The score was tied at 10 with 12:53 to play in the first half when Lake Forest went on a 10-2 run to open up an eight-point lead. St. Norbert responded with a 12-1 run of its own to go ahead by three (24-21). The Knights extended their lead to eight points by the end of the first half (35-27).

After a three-pointer gave the visitors a 38-32 advantage, the Foresters scored nine straight points to retake the lead. That lead changed hands four more times before the only two free throws of the game for McCants made the score 60-57 in favor of the Foresters with fewer than five minutes to play. St. Norbert outscored the home team 12-6 the rest of the way to claim a rare victory at Lake Forest's Sports Center.

The Foresters (12-4, 7-3 MWC) will look to right the ship on Tuesday (January 29th) when they travel to Monmouth College (3-14, 3-7). Next weekend they will play at Ripon College (10-7, 6-4) Friday (February 1st) night and at home against Beloit College (4-13, 3-7) Saturday (February 2nd) afternoon.

Box Score