JACKSONVILLE, Illinois—The Prairie Fire women's basketball team was back in action Saturday for their first game in over a year. Knox fell to Illinois College 72-49 in Jacksonville.
 
The Prairie Fire took an early 5-1 lead thanks to a three-pointer by Sarina Dacio and a layup by Saxon Alvarez. The Lady Blues quickly tied the game at 5-5. Juliana Vinluan put Knox back up 9-5 with a trey of her own. Illinois College finished the first quarter on a 10-2 run to take a 15-11 lead.
 
The Lady Blues used their momentum from the first quarter to jump out to a 23-12 lead early in the second quarter. A layup by Madi Bunger broke up the Illinois College run momentarily, but the Lady Blues led 33-16 at halftime.
 
The Prairie Fire struck first in the second half when Vinluan hit a short jumper, but Illinois College quickly regained their footing and soon led 46-20. Jodi Gormley hit a three-pointer with 2:52 to play in the third quarter, but the Lady Blues again bounced back to finish the period on an 11-7 run to take a 57-30 lead into the final quarter.
 
Knox chipped away at the Illinois College lead early in the fourth quarter when Catessa Duran used a pair of steals to hit a long-range jumper, convert a free throw attempt, and finish a layup. Bunger followed that up with a pair of layups. The Lady Blues held on for the win.
 
Vinluan led the Prairie Fire with 16 points in her debut. Dacio added 10 points and Duran filled the stat line with eight points, seven rebounds, four steals, and three blocks.
 
"We battled hard today, I was very pleased with our energy and effore," said head coach Emily Cline. "We have a ton of potential that will get better each game. We also had some nice individual performances."
 
Knox returns to action on Sunday with a rematch against Illinois College at home.