GALESBURG, Illinois—The Knox College Prairie Fire women's basketball team beat the Lawrence Vikings 58-41 in a defensive slugfest this Wednesday. Knox's guard play was fantastic on both ends of the court, and that paved the way for a fantastic Prairie Fire performance.
 
Knox set the tone in the first two quarters as they stifled the Vikings on offense and found a great stroke from behind the arc. The Prairie Fire shot 6-of-12 from three in the first half, including a 2-for-3 performance from guard Karlie Thorn. Thorn would end up scoring 13 points in the game, and proved to be a thorn in the side of the Lawrence backcourt defensively. This led to Lawrence only shooting 25.8% from the field in the first half on mostly contested jumpers, allowing Knox to enter the break up by eight.
 
In the second half, the Prairie Fire locked down even more on defense as they focused on maintaining their lead. Forward Morgan Potter shut down any Lawrence efforts in the paint on her way to a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double. Pairing her up with Jarrelyn McCall, who hauled in 15 rebounds herself, proved to be a huge advantage for Knox. Lawrence was held to only 17 points, and Knox rode out some rough free throw shooting to win by a very comfortable margin.
 
"This was a great game for us start to finish," said head coach Emily Cline. "We led the whole way and were able to counter their better players."
 
Knox's next game is at Grinnell College on December 8 at 1:00 p.m.