Box Score
PASADENA, California – The Prairie Fire built a big first half lead against Caltech and cruised to a 95-69 victory on Sunday.

Knox won its second straight and knocked down a season-high 16 baskets from 3-point range.  The school record of 17 triples was set in a 106-68 victory against Presentation College on December 21, 2012 in Daytona Beach, Florida.

The Prairie Fire (4-4) broke away from the Beavers with just under 14 minutes before halftime.  A bucket inside by sophomore Molly Lascelles (Ipava, IL, VIT) sparked a 9-0 run that extended a four point Knox lead to 23-10 with 10:44 remaining.

Caltech (0-8) snapped the run with two free throws and trimmed the deficit to 11, but the Prairie Fire rattled off 22 of the next 26 points to build a comfortable 45-18 lead with 6:18 left.

Knox led the Beavers 60-30 at the break.

The Prairie Fire scored 24 points off of 21 Caltech turnovers in the first half and held a 13-10 edge in second chance points, thanks in part to 18 offensive rebounds.  Senior Jessica Howard (Galesburg, IL, Galesburg) and junior Saundra Gavazzi (Gilbert, AZ, Chandler) combined to shoot 5-of-11 from 3-point range in the first half and scored 10 points apiece for Knox.

The Prairie Fire opened the second half on an 11-6 run, capped by a 3-point basket from junior Jasmine Binion (Davenport, IA, Assumption), and took their biggest lead of the game at 71-36 with 16:57 to play.  Caltech never got closer than 25 points the rest of the way.

Knox shot 38 percent (34-of-111) overall and held the Beavers to 35 percent (24-of-68) shooting.  The Prairie Fire forced 37 turnovers on Caltech – including 26 steals – and scored 35 points off of the miscues.  Knox also grabbed 36 offensive rebounds and held a 62-59 edge on the glass overall.

Binion had a season-high 15 points off the bench to share team-high scoring honors with Howard.  Gavazzi added 13 points, first-year Carley Bechen (Eugene, OR, Churchill) scored seven points and led the Prairie Fire with nine rebounds, and first-year Naja Woods (Minneapolis, MN, Southwest) dished out a game-high seven assists to go with five points.

Knox goes for a third consecutive win in the second and final game of the trip to California at the University of La Verne on Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. (Pacific).  The Leopards (2-4) have split their last two contests, including a 92-74 loss at home against North Central College (IL).