GALESBURG, Illinois—The Prairie Fire women's basketball team held on for a 63-60 victory over Illinois College on Wednesday night.
 
Knox jumped out to a 10-2 lead early in the first quarter, but the Lady Blues slowly worked back. The Prairie Fire closed the period out with a 4-0 run to take a 14-6 lead into the second quarter.
 
Knox expanded their lead in the second quarter and soon took a double digit lead. The Prairie Fire finished the first half on an 18-5 run to take a commanding 34-13 lead into halftime.
 
Illinois College came out strong in the second half and soon cut the deficit to 11 points. Knox quickly built back up to a 20 point lead, but the Lady Blues came right back to pull within 12. The Prairie Fire closed out the third period with another 4-0 run and led by 16 heading into the final stanza.
 
Knox maintained a double digit lead until 4:09 left to play as Illinois College used a 16-4 run to cut the deficit to six. With 27 seconds remaining in the game, the Lady Blues hit a three pointer to pull within three. Jarrelyn McCall hit a pair of free throws to make it a two possession game. Illinois College made another basket with five seconds left and made a quick steal to give them a final shot to tie the game. The shot missed the target as time expired giving Knox the victory.
 
Catessa Duran led the Prairie Fire with 18 points. Kyra Huffman added 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to pick up the double-double. Duran and Huffman each blocked three shots in the game as well.
 
"It was great to get the win tonight," said head coach Emily Cline. "I thought Catessa and Kyra were very good on both ends of the court tonight."
 
The Prairie Fire will return to action on February 8 as they travel to Cornell College.