St. Norbert Rallies, Then Holds Off Lake Forest

From Sports Information Director, January 28, 2014 | Women's Basketball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

LAKE FOREST, Ill. - St. Norbert College overcame an early deficit and then had to hold off a furious rally to top Lake Forest College 64-53 in a Midwest Conference game at LFC Sports Center.

Lake Forest (4-13, 4-8 MWC) jumped out to a 9-0 lead in the first 3 minutes 11 seconds of the game, but St. Norbert (13-4, 10-2) ground its way back to the lead with a 23-9 run to take a 23-18 lead. The Green Knights snapped an 18-18 tie with 7:21 left on a 3-pointer by Jill Kleiman and a hoop by Stephanie Weigman. Kleiman's 3-pointer with 42 seconds left in the half put the Green Knights ahead 30-22 at halftime.

St. Norbert led 34-24 early in the second half on a Morgan Heim basket, but the Foresters would then go on a 13-0 run to take a 37-34 lead with 15:12 to go by Gina Ambrose. Lake Forest led 42-37 with 14:09 to go before St. Norbert would respond with a big run of its own, outscoring the host 12-0 over the next 4:58 to go ahead 49-42. Heim had a conventional three-point play, Tasha Giese a basket, Brianna Byrne a 3-pointer and two free throws from Giese to finish off the run.

Lake Forest would get back to within 51-48 with 4:59 left, but St. Norbert's defense did the job the rest of the way, as the Green Knights held the Foresters scoreless over the next 3:41 to build a 58-48 lead with 1:29 left.

Heidi Van Sistine led the Green Knights, posting 17 points and eight rebounds off the bench. Kleiman added 12 points, Heim 11 points and Giese 10 points and eight rebounds. The Green Knights shot 44 percent (22-for-50) from the floor and held a 41-27 rebounding advantage.

Sam Schuring led the Foresters with 18 points. Ambrose added 11 points and Sam Cady 10 points. The Foresters shot 39.6 percent (21-for-53) from the floor.