GALESBURG, Illinois – The Prairie Fire finished off their best season in over a decade with a 91-79 Midwest Conference win against Ripon College on Saturday at Memorial Gym.

Five Knox seniors took the court for the last time as college basketball players and helped contribute to a first-ever season sweep of the Red Hawks.  The Prairie Fire had won only three of the previous 29 games in the all-time series, most recently in November of 2007, before posting a 74-60 victory at Ripon on January 3.

Knox (11-12, 9-9 MWC) extended a four point lead a little over six minutes into the game to 20-6 thanks to an 11-1 run that senior Jessica Howard (Galesburg, IL, Galesburg) capped with a 3-point basket at the 12:54 mark.

The Red Hawks (2-21, 2-16 MWC) put together a 13-2 surge to close the gap to 24-21 with 9:39 remaining.  A free throw by junior Jasmine Binion (Davenport, IA, Assumption) and another 3-pointer from Howard pushed the Prairie Fire lead to seven, but Ripon scored eight of the next 12 points to get within one, 32-31 with 5:29 left.

Howard came through again, netting a pair of long-range jumpers to help keep Knox in front by seven.  Ripon got as close as 40-36 with 3:00 to go when senior Jodi Marver (Northbrook, IL, Glenbrook North) knocked down a jumper that sparked a 16-2 surge to close out the first half with the Prairie Fire leading 56-38.

Howard scored 19 points on 5-of-7 shooting from 3-point distance and 4-for-4 from the free throw line in only nine minutes on the floor in the opening stanza.

Trailing by 16 one minute into the second half, the Red Hawks scored 12 unanswered points to whittle the deficit to four at 58-54 with 14:31 to go in the game.

Knox reclaimed a double-digit lead for good at 77-67 on a jumper by senior Becky Duffy (Chicago, IL, Northside Prep) with about six minutes remaining.  She added a traditional 3-point play during a 17-3 run that stretched the lead to 87-67 with about four minutes left and put the game out of reach.

The Prairie Fire shot 34 percent (27-of-79) overall, including 8-of-39 from 3-point range, and hit 29-of-39 free throws.  They also controlled the glass 60-50 and forced 32 turnovers, outscoring Ripon 41-18 In points off turnovers and 21-12 in second chance points.

Howard drained six 3-point baskets and scored a game-high 24 points.  She finished the season with 60 3-point baskets (#2 MWC) and ranks #1 in Knox women's basketball history with 175 career 3-point field goals.  Marver added 17 points and ended her career as the #2 all-time scorer at Knox with 1267 points.

Nicole Herkert scored 17 points to lead Ripon.

Knox recognized the five senior players before the game: Howard, Marver, Duffy, Brittney Price (Wyoming, IL, Stark County), and Nadia Tapfumaneyi (Harare, Zimbabwe, SOS-Hermann Gmeiner).

The Prairie Fire 's 11 wins are the most since the 2001-02 season (11), and the nine Midwest Conference victories are the most since the 1996-97 campaign (10).