By: A 10-0 run to start the game set the tone as Illinois College never trailed in a big road victory.
Box Score LAKE FOREST, Ill. –
Melissa Solorio led four Illinois College women's basketball players in double-figures with 25 points and helped the Lady Blues to a 65-48 win over Lake Forest on Saturday afternoon. IC started the game on a 10-0 run, then fought off a challenge from the Foresters with a 12-2 burst in the second half to put the game away, improving to 8-5 (5-3 Midwest Conference).
Hannah McGinnis – who moved ahead of Carol Johnson for sixth place all-time in points scored at Illinois College in the contest – gave IC a 2-0 lead 37 seconds into the game following a Lake Forest turnover. On the next two trips down the floor, Solorio would drain three-pointers and McGinnis ended the run with a pair of free throws to put the Lady Blues up big early. More than four minutes would elapse before Lake Forest scored its opening points of the game.
Slowly, Lake Forest began to pull its way back into the contest. A 6-0 run from the Foresters made it an 18-15 game, only for Solorio and
Ashley Hoegger to respond with back-to-back threes to up the Illinois College lead back to nine at 24-15. IC would manage just three more points in the final 4:38 of the half however, and Lake Forest was down only 27-24 at the break.
Coming out for the second half, Lake Forest twice cut the Illinois College lead down to a single point, but the Lady Blues came up with the shots they needed to keep the Foresters at bay. The IC lead was still only four points, 45-41, with less than nine minutes remaining, but that's when IC's defense and free throw shooting proved to be too much.
While Lake Forest went nearly six minutes without a field goal, Illinois College was able to repeatedly get to the foul line and convert. A string of six straight makes at the line from Solorio and
Maddy Keith started a game-changing 12-2 run to give the Lady Blues a 57-43 lead with three minutes remaining. IC ended the game 23-of-30 (.767) from the charity stripe, the team's best single-game performance this season.
Solorio knocked down five three-pointers in the game, ending with 25 points and nine rebounds. Keith recorded her second straight double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Jill Friedrich added 11 points, eight of which came after halftime. The Lady Blues limited Lake Forest's leading scorer, Brie Majkowski, to two points in 14 minutes of action before the sophomore forward fouled out of the contest.
McGinnis ended today's game with 11 points and nine boards. She now has 1,149 points in her time at IC, advancing to sixth place in career points. With four more points, she'll move up to fifth place ahead of Angie Sapp (1,152 points, 1993-97).
Illinois College wraps up a two-game road swing with a Jan. 17 contest at Beloit College. The Lady Blues and Buccaneers will get underway at 3 p.m. in Beloit's Flood Arena.
