The Lake Forest women's basketball team took the lead seven seconds into its Midwest Conference opener and led wire-to-wire in a 75-64 win over Monmouth College on Tuesday night.

Senior guard Rebecca Christodoulou paced the Foresters (2-5, 1-0 MWC) with a double-double, notching 26 points and 10 rebounds to go with 4 steals on the defensive end.

Guard Careah Baitlon had a career night at both ends of the floor. The sophomore set career-highs with 14 points and 8 assists to keep the Lake Forest offense humming, and her 4 steals were also a new career best. It was a balanced effort scoring the ball for the Foresters, as all starters recorded at least 8 points each.

Lake Forest shot a season-best 40 percent from the field, due in part to the players' patient shot selection. The Foresters attempted a season-low 19 three-pointers, making 5 of them, as they worked the ball inside for more high-percentage looks.

A strong second quarter pushed Lake Forest to a 10-point lead at halftime that only increased coming out of the locker room. An 18-3 sprint in the third quarter ballooned the lead over 20 in the frame, with 11 of those points in the run coming from Christodoulou.

While the Foresters never trailed, they had to hold on to their lead in the fourth quarter as foul trouble started to pile up among the Lake Forest starters, two of which fouled out of the contest.

However, the lead only briefed dipped below double digits as the Foresters kept the Fighting Scots (2-4, 0-1 MWC) at an arm's length to round out their first conference win of the season.

The Lake Forest defense held Monmouth's leading scorer to just eight points and forced 23 turnovers on the night.

The Foresters will continue their conference slate Saturday, going on the road against Cornell at 1:00 p.m.