GALESBURG, Illinois—The Knox College Prairie Fire women's basketball team lost a close game to the St. Norbert Green Knights at home today, falling 57-51. Knox's excellent defense wasn't enough to overcome a sluggish shooting day on their part, and as a result the Green Knights were able to grind out a close, competitive game.
 
In the first half, Knox was able to use a slow, methodical offensive approach in the paint to draw fouls and score layups. Morgan Potter did a lot of the damage down low, making all four of her free throws and grabbing seven rebounds, and Olivia Palepoi was able to pace the bench in her limited first half minutes by going 2-for-3 from the floor and grabbing an offensive rebound. On the other end, the Prairie Fire defense held the Green Knights to just 31.4% shooting and did not allow a single three. This led to Knox entering the half up 25-22.
 
The second half proved to be a different story for the Prairie Fire, however. St. Norbert's became used to Knox's physical play on both sides of the floor, and this allowed them to open up a run of scoring in the first minutes of the third quarter. The Green Knights managed to shoot a more palatable 40% from the field, and they were able to use their own paint prowess to get to the free throw line quite a bit, going 10-for-17 from the charity stripe. Karlie Thorn made two three-pointers and grabbed two rebounds for Knox, but unfortunately the Prairie Fire could not overcome the strong team performance by the Green Knights and fell by six.
 
Potter led Knox with 12 points and 12 rebounds to earn the double-double. Jarrelyn McCall added 11 points and Jessica Lee came off the bench to put up 10 of her own.
 
"We played two good quarters and two bad quarters today," said head coach Emily Cline. "St. Norbert was able to make some quick adjustments and were just a step ahead of us today."
 
The Prairie Fire play their next game on Saturday, January 19 at home against the Grinnell College Pioneers.