The Monmouth College women’s basketball team led for most of the game but ultimately fell short in a 59-57 loss at Lake Forest on Tuesday night in their Midwest Conference opener.
Lake Forest scored first but Ashley Jones (Abingdon, Illinois) tied the game with two free throws and tied the game again at 4-4 with a layup. Ella Goodrich (Minonk, Illinois) tied the game at 6-6 before Allie Hoy (Woodland, Illinois) gave the Scots an 8-6 lead. After a 4-0 Lake Forest run, Kiersten Cox (Illinois City, Illinois) tied the game and Jones put the Scots up 12-10. Jones and Cox scored the next six points and Monmouth led 18-12 after one quarter.
Goodrich knocked down a pair of free throws to start the second quarter. Madison Heisch (Illinois City, Illinois) knocked down a free throw and Jadyn Mitchell (Flanagan, Illinois) made a 3-pointer for a 24-19 lead. Neither team scored for nearly three minutes before Jones and Goodrich scored for a 28-19 lead. Kynlee Stearns (Gilson, Illinois) pushed the lead back to double digits with a free throw and Heisch gave the Scots a 30-19 halftime lead with a free throw.
Goodrich and Stearns started the third quarter with baskets to push the lead to 15. Lake Forest scored four straight and Stearns hit a 3-pointer and the teams traded baskets. Hoy’s 3-pointer gave the Scots a 42-25 lead and Jones answered a LFC basket with two free throws. Hoy hit another 3-pointer and Danielle Beach (Geneseo, Illinois) made a basket for a 50-30 Monmouth lead. Lake Forest closed the quarter with a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 50-37.
The Foresters scored to start the fourth quarter and extend the run to 9-0 before Cox connected on back-to-back baskets. Lake Forest responded with another 9-0 run to get within six at 54-48. After a Monmouth timeout and turnover, Lake Forest cut the lead to 54-50 before Jones knocked down a free throw with 3:56 to play. The Foresters scored again for a one-possession game but missed a game-tying 3-pointer. After another Scots turnover, the Foresters tied the game with a 3-pointer with 2:01 to play. Lake Forest fouled but Monmouth missed two free throws and the Foresters took the lead with a pair of free throws. The Scots got the ball down two with 35 seconds to play and called timeout. Lake Forest stole the ball and made two free throws for a 59-55 lead. Jones putback her own miss at the buzzer, Monmouth’s first field goal in 8:42 but it wasn’t enough in a 59-57 Lake Forest win.
Jones led the Scots with 16 points while Cox had 10. Cox led the way with seven rebounds, one more than Goodrich. Hoy had three steals while Cox led Monmouth with two assists.
MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Jones has scored at least six points in all six games and has five games of 10 or more. Cox has been in double digits four times this season. Goodrich has at least five rebounds in five straight games. Monmouth scored 20 points in the third quarter but only seven points in the fourth. The Scots return home for saturday’s Tartan Throwdown against Beloit College, 25 minutes after the end of the 1 p.m. men’s game between the same schools.
***Courtesy of Nathan Baliva, Monmouth College***
