Box Score

Galesburg, Ill. – The 3-point shots were falling for the Prairie Fire in a 105-97 win over Bethany Lutheran College on Monday at Memorial Gymnasium.

Knox (2-9) finished with a season-high 16 treys, including 11 in the first half.  Senior Chantal Heckman (Chicago, IL, Latin) buried two triples in the last 30 seconds of the opening stanza to help the hosts build a 56-49 halftime lead.

Bethany (3-8) scored the first nine points of the game on three 3-pointers before junior Becky Duffy (Chicago, IL, Northside Prep) scored the Prairie Fire's first bucket at the 17:45 mark.

Knox, trailing 17-9, went on a 20-2 run for a 29-19 lead with 9:30 to go.

The Vikings fought back to tie the game at 40 with just under 4:00 before the intermission.  The Prairie Fire outscored Bethany Lutheran 16-9 the rest of the half and took a seven point cushion into the locker room.

Knox stretched its least to 86-70 with 8:38 left after sophomore Jamie Blue (Urbana, IL, University) made a pair of free throws following an offensive rebound and shot that drew a foul on Bethany.

The Vikings twice cut the Prairie Fire lead to five, the last time at 98-93 on a 3-point basket with 1:51 to play.

Knox followed with five straight points – two free throws by Heckman and a three-point play by senior Grace Theisen (Minneapolis, MN, Southwest) – to regain a double-digit advantage at 103-93 with 58 seconds remaining and secure the victory.

The Prairie Fire connected on 16-of-51 attempts from 3-point range and shot 40 percent overall.  Knox has combined for 51 3-pointers over the past three games and now has 109 on the season, an average of nearly 10 per contest.

BLU finished with eight 3-point buckets and 43 percent shooting.  The Vikings also committed 26 turnovers that led to 33 points for Knox.

While the Prairie Fire fared well from behind the 3-point line, the free throw line was a different story.  Knox made just 15-of-30 foul shots, but Bethany Lutheran wasn't much better with a 21-of-39 (54 percent) performance at the stripe.

Junior Jessica Howard (Galesburg, IL, Galesburg) drained six 3-pointers and matched her career-high with 22 points to lead the Prairie Fire in scoring. Theisen added 19 points, her third straight game with 19 or more.  Blue recorded the first double-double of her career with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Three other Knox players scored in double-figures as well.  Junior Jodi Marver (Northbrook, IL, Glenbrook North) had 14 points, junior Brittney Price (Wyoming, IL, Stark County) 12, and Heckman 10 to go along with a team-high six assists.

The Prairie Fire will go for a second straight win at Grinnell College on Wednesday.  The game is scheduled to tip off at 7:30 and will be streamed live online at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/grinnell.portal#

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