Box Score

Galesburg, Ill. – The Prairie Fire hit clutch free throws and held Lake Forest College scoreless in the final minute to come away with a 98-93 Midwest Conference victory on Saturday at Memorial Gym.

Knox (6-13, 4-10 MWC) has won two straight games and earned a season split against the Foresters.  LFC defeated the Prairie Fire 113-86 when the teams met on December 7 in Lake Forest.  The victory by Knox also snapped a five game skid against LFC.

Senior Chantal Heckman (Chicago, IL, Latin) on two occasions scored to give the Prairie Fire a 10 point lead.  She drained a 3-pointer to put Knox on top 14-4 about 3:30 into the contest and then hit two free throws for a 26-16 lead at the 12:39 mark.

The Prairie Fire offense had a rough stretch after sophomore Jamie Blue (Urbana, IL, University) knocked down a jump shot for a 35-27 advantage with 7:55 left in the opening half.  Knox went six minutes without a field goal and trailed 47-45 when first-year Molly Lascelles (Ipava, IL, VIT) made a jumper with 1:54 remaining.

The Foresters (5-15, 5-10) took their biggest lead of the half at 51-45.  A trey by junior Jodi Marver (Northbrook, IL, Glenbrook North) trimmed the deficit in half before Lake Forest added a free throw to go up 52-48 at the intermission.

Lake Forest held a 56-50 edge when junior Jessica Howard (Galesburg, IL, Galesburg) netted three consecutive 3-point baskets to give Knox the lead back at 59-56 with 15:52 to play.

The lead changed hands five times in the five minutes that followed.  The Foresters held a 74-73 advantage after splitting two free throws with 10:54 left in regulation.

The Prairie Fire got the lead back on a basket by Heckman 17 seconds later and never gave it up, fighting off Lake Forest the rest of the game.

Knox appeared to be on the verge of running away when senior Grace Theisen (Minneapolis, MN, Southwest) scored for an 89-81 advantage with 4:51 left.  But a 10-3 run brought the Foresters within one point at 92-91 with 1:24 to go.

Marver canned two free throws to build the Prairie Fire lead back to three, but Lake Forest again cut the deficit to one on a basket with 54 seconds on the clock.  Marver made two more free throws for a 96-93 lead.

The Foresters missed two shots trying to close the gap to one or force a tie.  Marver rebounded the second miss and junior Becky Duffy (Chicago, IL, Northside Prep) sank the first of two free throws to make it a two-possession game at 97-93 with 25 seconds left.

Lake Forest again came up empty on a shot attempt and Marver hit another free throw to close out the scoring.

The Prairie Fire shot 35 percent overall but made 13 3-point baskets and 25-of-38 free throws.  Knox held a 52-50 rebounding advantage – including 20 offensive boards – and scored 32 points off of turnovers.

The Foresters, after shooting 54 percent in the first half, cooled off to 40 percent in the second stanza and finished at 46 percent.  Lake Forest hit 17-of-26 free throws, but only 5-of-7 after halftime.

Marver was 14-of-17 from the foul line in the game and led Knox with 23 points.  Heckman added 18 points, Blue had 14 to go with eight rebounds, and Howard had the first double-double of her career with 12 points and a team-high 11 rebounds.

Danielle Canulli scored a game-high 36 points for LFC.  Sam Cady recorded a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Knox puts its two game winning streak on the line at Monmouth College on Tuesday.  The teams are scheduled to tip off at 7:30 p.m.

NOTE: Knox and Lake Forest participated in the "Play for the Cure" cancer initiative.  The beneficiary of the funds raised is St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and the day's events raised nearly $200.  The winners of the prize giveaways were:

Men's Team Game Ball - Paul Skrade
Women's Team Game Ball - Tim Sandrock
St. Jude Gift Pack - Beth Welch
St. Jude Gift Pack - Miriam Skrade
M&M's - Tamryn Tills
Half Court Shot Made - Eric Crawford
 
In addition, Pizza House of Galesburg donated the "monster pizza."