GALESBURG, Illinois—On a cold, frosty afternoon the Knox Prairie Fire women's basketball team took on Lake Forest College at home. Before today's game, Lake Forest was a game ahead of the Prairie Fire in the standings.

The Prairie Fire wasted no time in getting points on the board as sharpshooting senior Karlie Thorn knocked down a trey to give the Prairie Fire the lead. However, Lake Forest battled back and held a 16-10 lead after the first quarter.
 
In the second quarter, a three-pointer by Jessica Lee kickstarted a mini-run for the Prairie Fire as they turned a seven-point deficit into five-point lead at the end of the first half. Catessa Duran was intercepting passes like an NFL cornerback as she had an astonishing six steals at halftime. Kyra Hoffman was right on both sides of the ball as she led the Prairie Fire in points (7) and blocks (3). The Fire's defensive effort paid off as they held Lake Forest to 30.3% shooting from the field.
 
Morgan Potter started off her second half with back-to-back jumpers. However, Lake Forest would answer each basket as they fought to stay in the game. The Foresters got the deficit down to as little as four before the Prairie Fire went on another run to balloon the lead to 18 at the end of the quarter.
 
The Prairie Fire would never look back as they cruised to a 74-53 victory. Morgan Potter had an eye-popping second half! The senior had 16 points and didn't miss a single field goal in the half. Potter paced the Prairie fire in scoring with 22. This win propelled the Prairie Fire to 8-4 in the conference.

"I am very proud of our defensive effort today," said head coach Emily Cline. "Lots of people had good games today, but Morgan Potter really took over in the second half."
 
The Prairie Fire play at Illinois College in another conference showdown on January 30.