St. Norbert Opens MWC Play With Win Over Lake Forest

From Sports Information Director, December 5, 2008 | Women's Basketball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

DE PERE - St. Norbert College opened defense of its Midwest Conference title with a 65-56 win over Lake Forest College in a MWC opener at Schuldes Sports Center.

The Green Knights snapped a brief two-game losing streak and improved to 3-2 overall, while the Foresters dropped to 3-2 overall. St. Norbert has beaten Lake Forest in 12 of the last 14 meetings.

St. Norbert and Lake Forest were knotted at 39-39 with 7:30 left to play before the Green Knights went on a decisive 14-2 run to take a 53-41 advantage with 4:43 to go.

The Green Knights' Victoria LeFevre got the run started with a fastbreak layup. Morgan Strasser then canned a 3-pointer for a five-point lead. Lake Forest's Paige Keasler answered with a runner in the lane to cut the deficit back to three at 44-41, but St. Norbert tallied the next nine points. Jamie Kuhl, Denise Heuser and Kristin Zimmerman scored baskets, while Strasser hit another 3-pointer to finish the run. Lake Forest would get no closer than seven points the rest of the way.

St. Norbert led the entire first half, jumping out to a 12-4 lead out of the game on a 3-pointer by Heuser. The Green Knights led 29-16 with 1:25 left in the half before settling on a 29-20 lead at intermission.

Strasser led St. Norbert with 17 points, while Heuser added 14. Rachel Hermus grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds. The Green Knights shot 45.3 percent from the floor, making 24 of 53 field goals. St. Norbert was 12-for-23 from the free-throw line.

Lake Forest shot 18-for-59 from the floor, translating to 30.5 percent. Tracy Rainey was the only Lake Forest player to score in double figures with 17 points.