GALESBURG, Illinois - The Knox Prairie Fire women's basketball team were defeated by the Ripon College Red Hawks on Senior Day this Saturday by a final score of 66-63. With the loss, the Prairie Fire's regular season record finished at 12-11.
The Prairie Fire gave everything they could to the Red Hawks in the first half, and it led to some outstanding basketball on display at Memorial Gym. Knox shot a respectable 44.4% from the field, and were led primarily by Jessica Lee's shooting. Lee scored 22 points on the day, and she looked comfortable shooting jumpers from all over the court. Defensively, the Prairie Fire gave the Red Hawks looks inside while shutting down their perimeter shooting. Despite allowing 26 points in the paint on the day, Knox limited Ripon to 2-of-9 from beyond the arc in the first half, demonstrating their priorities on that end of the floor. The Prairie Fire kept it close overall, and were only down by five at halftime.
The second half saw Knox give it 110% in order to take control of the game. Haylee Carpenter had her normal excellent shooting game off the bench, scoring 18 of her 19 points via three point shots. This, in combination with a poor offensive showing from Ripon in the third quarter, seemingly gave Knox the momentum they needed to take control of the game. The Red Hawks, however, roared back in the fourth, going 3-for-5 from downtown and draining all four of their free throw attempts as they barely held off Knox to close out the ballgame.
"Our Seniors Olivia and Jessica did a tremendous job," said head coach Kira Mowen. "Olivia's defense on some of the better posts in our conference was superb. She also had a timely basket and foul that helped us gain momentum. Jessica gave it her all with her attacking of the basket. She hung in there with all the contact and made her shots at the rim. I am extremely proud of both of them and very proud and thankful for their leadership. Our team is extremely excited about the week to come. We left everything on the floor tonight and as a program we are going to take some time off our legs and get ready for next Friday. Thank you to all parents and supporters that came out tonight in support of Jess and Olivia as well as our team. We aren't done yet!! Please continue to follow us next week as we head to play Monmouth in the first round of the tourney."
The Prairie Fire's season marches on, as they look to play in the Midwest Conference Tournament this Friday.
