Lake Forest College Sports Information
January 31, 2009
Contact: Mike Wajerski, SID

Lake Forest Pulls Away in Second Half at Grinnell
Claire Schmidt records first career double-double

Lisa Nassin
Susan Hedrick
LAKE FOREST, Ill. - The Forester women's basketball team won 78-68 at Grinnell College on Saturday (January 31). Lake Forest is now 9-8 overall and 6-4 in the Midwest Conference. The Pioneers fell to 3-15 overall and 2-9 in the league.

Forester junior forward Claire Schmidt (Kankakee, Ill./Bishop McNamara) finished the game with 16 points and a career-high 17 rebounds for her first collegiate double-double. Classmates Lisa Nassin (Evergreen Park, Ill./Evergreen Park), a center, and Tracy Rainey (Roselle, Ill./Lake Park), a guard, shared game-high honors with 17 points apiece. Nassin was 7-for-11 from the field, raising her field goal percentage on the season to .591. Rainey pulled down nine rebounds in the contest. Senior guard Susan Hedrick (Geneva, Ill./Geneva) also reached double-figures with 10 points. Junior guard Kate Grunauer (Chicago, Ill./Marist) led the visitors with six assists and four steals.

Lake Forest shot 48.3 percent from the field in the game but made just one of 14 three-pointers and 21 of 32 free throws. Grinnell was held to 36.5 percent shooting from the floor, made 11 of 26 attempts from beyond the arc, and knocked down 11 of 15 foul shots. The Foresters out-rebounded the home team 44-31. Both teams committed 15 turnovers.

The Foresters led 14-4 after the game's first six minutes. The Pioneers then outscored their guests 20-6 over the next six-and-a-half minutes to take a four-point advantage. The lead changed hands three more times in the half, which ended with Lake Forest ahead 35-32.

Grinnell trimmed the margin to two points a minute into the second half but a 16-3 Forester run extended the visitors' lead to a game-high 15 with 14:45 to play. The Pioneers pulled to within nine points a few minutes later and cut the deficit to eith on two occasions in the final two minutes but would get no closer as Lake Forest made seven of eight free throws down the stretch.

Lake Forest will travel to Monmouth College on Tuesday (February 3) for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off. The Foresters will then host two of the four teams ahead of them in the league standings next weekend (February 6-7). The team will take on Carroll College Friday evening at 5:00 and St. Norbert College the following afternoon at 3:00. Live video webcasts of all league contests are available at www.midwestconference.tv.

Box Score