Foresters Place Second at Thanksgiving Invitational Tournament
Grubbs and McCants named to All-Tournament Team
 

ST. LOUIS, MO - Playing in the Washington University Thanksgiving Invitational Tournament, the Lake Forest College women's basketball team got it's first victory of the 2000-01 season Friday (November 24th) evening with a convincing win over Cornell College (IA) by a score of 93-71. On Saturday (November 25th), the Foresters made a strong run at upsetting the three-time defending national champion Washington University but were defeated 80-70 in the championship game. In Friday's win over Cornell, senior Alison Grubbs (Cullom, IL/Tri-Point) was the star for the Foresters as she scored 33 points in 32 minutes. Grubbs also added 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals. Sophomore Katie McCants (Menasha, WI/Menasha) and senior Karla Gribble (Mineral Point, WI/Mineral Point) each scored 13 points and senior Kim Magee (Lake Oswego, OR/Lake Oswego) chipped in 12. Lake Forest used a 24-7 run to close the first half with a 55-28 lead. At that point the team had made 17 of 29 field goals (58.6%), including 6 of 10 from behind the 3-point arc. They finished the game shooting 30-56 from the field (53.6%), 9-17 from three-point land (52.9%) and 24-33 from the free throw line (72.7%). The victory put the Foresters in the tournament championship game against Washington University on Saturday afternoon. McCants was the team's leading scorer in the Saturday's loss to Washington University with 19 points on 9 of 13 shooting from the field. Gribble scored 14, Grubbs had 13 and freshman Sherry Wagner (Chicago, IL/Mother McAuley) reached double-figures for the first time in her career with 10.

Alison Grubbs (above) and Katie McCants were named to the Washington University Thanksgiving Invitational All-Tournament Team.

Lake Forest did more than hold their own against the national champions, outscoring them by two during the game's first 17:14 and by three during the final 16:27. It was a 17-2 run put on by the home team in between that proved to be the Foresters' downfall. The comeback bid at the end fell just short as Washington made their final seven free throw attempts to preserve the victory.

Grubbs and McCants were named to the six-member all-tournament team for their performances over the weekend. The two combined to score 78 points in the tournament, shooting 29 of 53 (54.7%) from the field, 8 of 16 (50%) on three-pointers and 12 of 16 (75%) from the free throw line. They also added 19 rebounds, seven assists and 5 steals between them in the two games.

The Foresters will look to improve on their 1-3 record on Wednesday (November 29th) when they host Concordia University (River Forest, IL) at 7:00 pm. They will begin defense of their Midwest Conference Championship next Saturday (December 2nd) with a home game against fellow MWC foe Grinnell College at 3:00 pm.

Lake Forest-Cornell Box Score
Lake Forest-Washington Box Score