Box Score

Eureka, IL – A late first half run that carried over into the second half lifted Eureka College to a 97-76 non-conference win over the Prairie Fire on Saturday afternoon.

The game featured five ties and seven lead changes before the Red Devils broke away.  Junior Becky Duffy (Chicago, IL, Northside Prep) made two free throws to give Knox a 34-33 lead at the 6:25 mark.

Eureka (2-1) regained the lead at 35-34 with a layup on its next possession – the start of a 17-9 run that extended the Red Devil advantage to 50-43 at halftime.

The Prairie Fire shot 34 percent (14-of-41) in the first half while the Red Devils hit 46 percent (23-of-50) of their shots.

Eureka continued its run by scoring the first six points of the second half and pulled ahead 56-43.  Knox (1-3) cut the deficit to 12 at 58-46 on a bucket by sophomore Jamie Blue (Urbana, IL, University) with 16:40 to play.

The Red Devils answered with an 11-0 surge for a 69-46 lead with 12:36 remaining.  The Prairie Fire were unable to get any closer than 19 points the rest of the contest.

Knox connected on 24 percent of its shots in the second half and finished the game at 29 percent (24-of-82), including 21 percent (7-of-34) from 3-point range.

Eureka shot 47 percent (45-of-96) overall and outscored the Prairie Fire 70-33 in the paint.  The Red Devils also held a 66-51 rebounding edge and forced 25 Knox turnovers while committing 22 of their own.

Blue scored a season-high 17 points and junior Jessica Howard (Galesburg, IL, Galesburg) added 15 for the Prairie Fire.  Senior Grace Theisen (Minneapolis, MN, Southwest) grabbed a team-high eight rebounds and senior Chantal Heckman (Chicago, IL, Latin) dished out five assists.

Kelsey Shoemake had 26 points and 15 rebounds for Eureka.

Knox meets Cornell College in both its home and Midwest Conference opener on Wednesday.  The Rams (3-1, 0-0 MWC) were picked in the MWC preseason coaches' poll to repeat as the regular season league champion.

The tip-off is scheduled at 7:30 p.m. and live video of the game will be available online at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/knox.portal#/

Follow Prairie Fire athletics on Twitter and Facebook