JACKSONVILLE, Illinois—The Prairie Fire women's basketball team was defeated by Illinois College by a final score of 72-62.

Knox (11-9, 8-5 MWC) fell behind early as the Lady Blues offense was firing on all cylinders in the first quarter. IC led by as many as seven in the quarter, but the Prairie Fire had the score within two with 2:18 left in the period. The Lady Blues led by six by the end of the quarter and tacked on eight straight points to begin the second quarter to take a double-digit lead. Knox chipped away at the lead and only trailed by six at the intermission.

IC quickly took another double-digit lead in the opening minutes of the second half and led by 14 heading into the final quarter. The Prairie Fire battled back once again, but could not cut into the lead enough. The Lady Blues hit 3-of-4 free throws in the final minute to seal the win.

Jessica Lee scored a career-high 14 points off the bench tot lead Knox. Shanelle Borth chipped in with 12 points. Jarrelyn McCall earned the double-double with 10 points and 10 boards and Kyra Huffman narrowly missed her own with 10 rebounds and nine points.

"We have to put this one behind us and execute on Saturday," said head coach Emily Cline. "Hopefully we can learn from this and move on."

The Prairie Fire will look to get back on track when they host Cornell on February 2.