Waukesha, WI – The Prairie Fire tried the end the season with a milestone win, but Carroll University wouldn’t let it happen in an 85-70 victory on Saturday.

Knox (9-14, 7-11 MWC) defeated Illinois College last Tuesday at home for the first season sweep of the Lady Blues since the 2001-02 campaign.  The seven Midwest Conference wins by Knox this season are the most since the 1998-99 team also had seven victories in league play.  A win against the Pioneers would’ve resulted in the most MWC victories by the Knox women’s basketball program since the 1996-97 squad went 10-4 in the conference.

The Pioneers (13-8, 12-6) won their fourth straight game and are the #4 seed in the Midwest Conference Tournament later this month.  Picked to finish sixth in the 2012-13 Midwest Conference Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Preseason Poll, Carroll is in the conference tournament for the third consecutive season.

Knox and Carroll played through five ties and neither team led by more than three points in the first 14:00 of the game.  The Pioneers gained some separation by scoring eight consecutive points to snap a 19-19 tie at the 8:26 mark to lead 27-19 with 5:00 remaining in the opening half.

The Prairie Fire snapped the run when senior Sara Johnson (Grinnell, Iowa, Grinnell) made two free throws to trim the Carroll advantage to 27-21 with 4:50 before the break.

Carroll went on its second 8-0 run of the half, extending a 31-25 lead at the 3:42 mark to 39-25 with just under 2:00 left in the first stanza.  Knox responded by scoring six of the next seven points, including the last four points of the half by sophomore Jodi Marver (Northbrook, IL, Glenbrook North), to trim the Pioneers’ advantage to 40-31 at halftime.

Neither team shot particularly well in the first half.  Carroll connected on 39% from the floor and missed five of 11 free throw attempts.  The Prairie Fire hit 28% of their shots but stayed in the game by knocking down 11-of-12 free throws.

A layup by Kayla Smithback to open the second half scoring allowed the Pioneers to reclaim a double-figure lead at 42-31.  Knox followed with three straight points by Johnson to cut Carroll’s lead to 42-34 after 1:08 had gone by in the half.

Bailey Brown scored consecutive baskets and Emily DeNoyer added a layup for a 6-0 run and a 48-34 lead by the Pioneers with 17:23 in regulation.

Marver scored on the next Knox possession to pull her team within 12 at 48-36.  A 10-2 surge gave Carroll its biggest lead of the game at 58-38 with just over 14:00 to play.

The Pioneers kept adding on and held a 70-46 lead with 8:00 left in the game.

Knox had a run of its own, a 19-6 spurt over the next 4:30, to whittle the Carroll lead down to 76-65.  The run included a pair of 3-pointers by sophomore Jessica Howard (Galesburg, IL, Galesburg), traditional three-point plays by senior Kristin McDonald (Chicago, IL, Regina Dominican) and first-year Alycia Webster (Allen Park, MI, Melvindale), and a trey by junior Chantal Heckman (Chicago, IL, Latin).

Carroll scored four straight points to increase its lead to 80-65 with 2:25 remaining.  The Prairie Fire couldn’t get any closer than a 12 point deficit when sophomore Katie White (Peoria, IL, Notre Dame) netted a 3-pointer with 2:00 remaining and the Pioneers on top 80-68.

Carroll shot 51% in the second half and 45% overall.  The Pioneers finished the game 17-of-30 from the free throw line and outrebounded Knox 57-40.  Nearly half of Carroll’s rebounds, 25, came on the offensive end.  The Pioneers held a 24-15 advantage in second chance points.

The Prairie Fire, outscored by Carroll 45-39 in the second half, shot 38 percent in the final 20 minutes and 33% overall.  Knox was 6-of-23 from 3-point range and made 18-of-20 free throws.

The Fire had 12 steals on defense and forced Carroll into 25 turnovers.  However, Knox committed 26 miscues that lead to 28 points by the Pioneers.

Howard scored in double-figures for the third straight game.  She led the Prairie Fire with 18 points in just 14 minutes on the floor before fouling out.  Howard was a red hot 7-of-8 shooting, including 4-of-4 from 3-point range.

Marver added 14 points.  She finished second in the Midwest Conference in scoring behind Lauren McNanna of Beloit College.  McNanna averaged 16.5 points per game while Marver averaged 16.2.

McDonald had 11 points and four steals in her last game for Knox.  Webster contributed eight points and 10 rebounds, White scored five points and grabbed nine rebounds, and Johnson chipped in with five points, two rebounds, and two steals in her final college basketball game.

Marver and Howard made history with their 3-point shooting this season.  Both made 51 treys, tying them for the most in the Midwest Conference.  Marver and Howard averaged 2.2 buckets per game from 3-point range in 2012-13, also first in the conference.  In addition, Marver is #2 in Midwest Conference history with 224 3-point shot attempts this season and Howard is 10th all-time with 162.

Jessica Shotts holds the record for the most 3-point attempts in a season with 235 for Grinnell College during the 2009-10 season.  The MWC women's basketball records are available at http://www.midwestconference.org/custompages/Record%20Books/MWCRECORD-Women%27s%20Basketball.pdf

Carroll joins #1 seed and nationally ranked Cornell College (22-1, 17-1 MWC), #2 seed Monmouth College (19-4, 14-4 MWC), and #3 seed St. Norbert College (15-8, 12-6 MWC) in the Midwest Conference Tournament.

Cornell, picked by the MWC coaches in the preseason to finish eighth in 2012-13, will host the conference tournament on February 22 and 23.

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