The Knox Prairie Fire women's basketball team came up short against the Ripon Red Hawks this Saturday, losing by a final score of 63-56. The Prairie Fire have lost five games in a row, and their season record sits at 2-7.
The first half saw Knox get off to one of their recent slow starts, with the team struggling to land their shots on offense. Despite finding plenty of space for their jumpers, the Prairie Fire shot just 29% from the floor, with many of their starters unable to give an offensive spark. Catessa Duran was the lone bright spot for Knox, using her wide array of post moves to score 13 points on an efficient 5-6 shooting effort. Defensively, the Prairie Fire initially held strong, but a 28 point second quarter and crisp three point shooting for the Red Hawks had Knox down by 21 at the half.
Knox's bench stepped up in the second half to help their starters, taking control of the game in the process. Sarina Dacio in particular was a scoring force, scoring 13 points with some nice shots from downtown to pace the team in second half points. Catessa Duran continued her great performance from the first half, as well, bringing down 9 rebounds on her way to a double-double. Collectively, however, the Prairie Fire still struggled to shoot, and although they shut down Ripon's offense and outscored them 22-4 in the fourth quarter, they still fell in defeat.
Knox will attempt to break the losing streak when they travel to play Occidental next Friday at 3 p.m.
