Box Score
The Prairie Fire women's basketball team was victimized by fouls, which contributed to a tough second half against Illinois College in the Lady Blues' 74-56 win Saturday at Memorial Gymnasium.
Knox got off to a hot start in the game and opened up a 25-11 lead with a little over nine minutes to play in the first half. Senor Jenny Haskell (Murphys, California) scored 11 straight points for the Prairie Fire (5-12, 4-8 MWC) during the stretch.
I-C (10-7, 8-4 MWC) responded, taking advantage of three first-half fouls on Knox forwards Krystyna Williams (Evanston, Illinois) and Kelly Ricketts (Galesburg, Illinois), forcing Coach Emily cline to take both out of the game and go to an already depleted bench. The Lady Blues put together a 14-2 run to cut the Fire lead to two at the 4:54 mark of the first stanza.
After Knox extended the lead to five (30-25), I-C scored eight of the next 10 points to grab a one-point lead (33-32) at the half. The Lady Blues shot 63 percent from the floor but committed 14 first-half turnovers. Eight were the result of steals by Haskell, who finished the game with 10 -- among the highest totals of all time in a game by a Knox player.
The Prairie Fire started the second half much like the first 10 minutes of the first half. Knox put together a 7-0 run over the first 3:15 to build a 39-33 lead. Unfortunately for the Fire, Williams was called for her fourth foul less than two minutes into the half and didn't return until a little over 6:00 remained in the game.
The Lady Blues stayed close with the help of Megan Moore, whose 15 points and seven rebounds off the bench were big. She provided a spark in the first half with six points, then continued her strong post play in the second half when the Fire bottled up I-C's leading scorer Rachel Macon. Macon, without Williams on the floor to help solidify Knox's post defense, got hot in the second half -- when she dropped in 11 points and pulled down seven rebounds en route to a 20 point, nine rebound performance. Carrie Walberg also caused problems for the Prairie Fire. She scored a team-high 22 points to go along with eight rebounds for Illinois College.
The tide turned for Knox when Moore sank two free-throws with 9:12 to play to tie the game at 47-47, the start of 10-0 run that was too much for the Prairie Fire to overcome. The Fire cut the lead to 60-54 with 3:57 to go when Walberg scored six straight points for a double-figure lead that the Lady Blues never relinquished. Illinois College outscored Knox 41-24 over the final 20 minutes of play.
The loss offset another stellar performance by Haskell, who just missed a triple-double. Haskell finished with a game-high 26 points and nine rebounds to go with her 10 steals. She's now scored 20 or more points in three straight games and is averaging 23 points, 9.0 rebounds, 5.0 steals and 5.3 assists during that time.
The officials whistled the Prairie Fire for 26 fouls to 18 for I-C. The Lady Blues, who shot 57.5 percent in the game, made 24-of-36 free-throws. Knox, after shooting 35 percent in the first half, was held to 21 percent (6-of-29) in the second half -- including 6-of-26 overall from three-point range -- while making 16-of-19 (84 percent) from the foul line. I-C committed 21 turnovers in the game to just 13 for Knox but won the rebounding battle 38-29.
Ricketts joined Haskell in double-figure scoring with 10 points. Williams, the team's second-leading scorer and top rebounder this season, was held to two points (1-of-1) and four rebounds in the game.
The Prairie Fire plays three more home games in the next week. Grinnell College (6-10, 5-7 MWC) visits Memorial Gymnasium Tuesday. The Pioneers lost their third straight game Saturday night, falling at home to Lake Forest College 70-59. Knox beat Grinnell 63-62 when the teams met the first time December 8. The Pioneers are 2-5 on the road this season.
photo courtesy of Laura Mack
