The Lake Forest women's basketball team had one of its best defensive performances of the season Saturday at the Sports and Recreation Center, but could not pull out the victory, falling to Cornell College, 53-49, in overtime.
 
Guard Jamie Springstead led Lake Forest (2-18, 0-11 MWC) with 13 points and eight rebounds. The senior fouled out on an offensive foul with 6:54 remaining in regulation.
 
Anika Kinnear scored 10 points and pulled down six rebounds, and Mia DeGrasse scored six points, grabbed six rebounds, and dished out three assists. Nine different Foresters scored in total.
 
Saturday marked the fewest points that Lake Forest has allowed in a game this season, and the Foresters held the Rams to 24.2 percent shooting – also a season low for Forester opponents.
 
Lake Forest utilized stifling defense to take an early lead and keep Cornell from getting into a rhythm. The Foresters held the visitors to just 14.3 percent shooting in the first quarter, and Cornell made only 1-of-9 three-point attempts in the quarter.
 
The Foresters kept up the pressure on the Rams in the second quarter. Lake Forest allowed only one field goal in the quarter, and Cornell went into halftime shooting 11.5 percent from the field, as Lake Forest went into intermission with a 22-16 lead.
 
Springstead played entire first half, scoring seven points and securing six rebounds, leading the Foresters in both categories.
 
The visitors made a run in the third quarter, an 11-0 Cornell sprint to take their first lead since the game was 2-0.
 
Lake Forest absorbed the pressure and leaned on its suffocating defense to make a run and close out the third quarter. Kinnear used a right-handed drive to get into the paint, hitting a scoop layup plus a foul to retake the lead at 33-31 after she converted the free throw.  
 
The Foresters held the Rams scoreless the final 4:30 of the third quarter to take a four-point lead into the fourth.
 
Late in the fourth quarter, after a Lake Forest timeout trailing 41-40, the Foresters worked the ball inside to Sara Mills. The Cornell defense collapsed on her in the post, and Mills kicked it out to DeGrasse at the top of the key.  The sophomore guard knocked it down for her first made field goal of the game to give Lake Forest a 43-41 lead.
 
After a pair of Cornell free throws tied the game at 43, both teams missed potentially go-ahead three pointers to send the game to overtime.
 
In overtime, points were difficult to come by. Lake Forest shot just 2-of-8 in the extra period, as Cornell made their first two shots of overtime to take the lead. Ariana Ferreira-Torralba hit a three-pointer with four seconds left to cut the Cornell lead to 51-49, but the Rams made their free throws to seal the game.
 
The Foresters enter the final month of the regular season for their next game, as the Foresters will face off with Beloit College on Tuesday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in Beloit, Wis.