RIPON, Wisconsin—The Knox Prairie Fire women's basketball team fell to the Ripon College Red Hawks by a final score of 68-56. With the loss, the Prairie Fire are eliminated from the Midwest Conference Tournament after a very successful season.
 
The first half saw Knox fall behind as they struggled to maintain a rhythm against Ripon's tough defense. The Prairie Fire as a team only managed a 27.3% shooting performance, and were outrebounded 22-17 by a tough, tall Red Hawks team. Catessa Duran led the way for Knox, scoring 13 points on 5-7 shooting while pulling down three rebounds. Defensively, the Prairie Fire played a respectable half, forcing eight turnovers and holding Ripon to 46.2% from the floor. Unfortunately, this was not enough to overcome their offensive woes, as they entered the half down by seven points.
 
In the second half, Knox saw their offensive output pick up, only for their defensive performance to suffer. Kyra Huffman scored 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting, while Duran added 11 points of her own to finish with an impressive 24 on the game. On the whole, the Prairie Fire shot a much improved 41.7 from the field, going 3-5 from beyond the arc. Unfortunately, Ripon turned their offensive performance up a gear, shooting 60.9% and getting to the free throw line often. As a result, they ended up increasing their lead despite spirited play from Knox, and went on to comfortably win the game.
 
"I am very proud of this group of women," said head coach Emily Cline. "We fought hard all year and came up just short in the end. Thank you to our seniors Jarrelyn McCall and Kyra Huffman for their efforts tonight and over the last four years."
 
While their season has ended, the Knox community could not be more proud of the women's team for their incredible season! Congratulations to the players and the coaches!