Galesburg, IL – The new fast-paced style of play the Prairie Fire women’s basketball team installed this season is featured on a national Web site that covers Division III college basketball.

Coach Emily Cline’s decision to pick up the pace this season is the topic of an article written by Jason Galleske of d3hoops.com.  Cline said in the piece that the team tries to force tempo.  “It’s all about number of possessions for us and obviously we try to create a lot of turnovers.”

The Prairie Fire has done that very well recently.  Knox forced 33, 27, 48, and 46 turnovers over the last four games, three of them Prairie Fire victories.  Opponents have turned the basketball over 521 times through the team’s first 16 games, or an average of 32.6 per contest.

The Prairie Fire’s scoring has picked up lately as well.  Averaging 82.6 points per game, Knox leads the Midwest Conference and ranks second in NCAA Division III.  The Fire is averaging nearly 94 points in the last seven games and has topped 100 twice – including outputs of 102 points on January 13 and a school-record 114 points on January 21.

The Grinnell College men’s basketball team has run a similar system for the past several years.    The Pioneers, who’ve won 13 of their first 14 games, are averaging 115.2 points this season and forcing 28.5 turnovers per game.

The Prairie Fire goes for its third straight win on January 28 at Illinois College.  The game kicks off a pivotal four-game road trip as Knox tries to continue posting victories and move up in the Midwest Conference standings.

The d3hoops.com article about Knox women’s basketball is available at: http://www.d3hoops.com/columns/around-the-region/midwest-west/2011-12/not-looking-like-the-champs

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