MOUNT VERNON, Iowa - The Knox Prairie Fire women's basketball team were defeated by the Cornell College Rams this Monday evening, losing by the decisive final score of 71-42. The loss snaps an impressive eight game win streak for the Prairie Fire, although they still sit above .500 at 10-9 on the season.
Knox got off to a rather inauspicious beginning in the game, with their shooting never really getting off the ground. The Prairie Fire offense went only 7-for-29 from the floor in the first half, missing all eight of their three-point attempts in the process. Olivia Palepoi was a lone bright spot coming off the bench for Knox, as she scored 6 points on 3-of-6 shooting while also pulling down three rebounds. The Prairie Fire also struggled to match up with Cornell on the defensive side, as they allowed the Rams to shoot 44.8%, with their interior defense in particular struggling to stop shots from dropping. Because of these factors, Knox entered the half down by 13 points.
The Prairie Fire were unable to close the gap in the second half, as the same problems that plagued them earlier continued throughout the game. Knox shot only 30% in the half while again missing all of their shots from beyond the arc, putting them further into a hole. The offense also only went 7-for-13 on their free throw attempts, another poor showing for a unit that had otherwise been outstanding this season. Loraya Rocha made the most of her limited minutes off the bench for the Prairie Fire, though, scoring 7 points and grabbing two boards in an encouraging showing. Cornell's offense still was able to penetrate Knox's defense throughout the half, however, and were also able to put up an impressive 9-for-18 display from three-point land, meaning that the Prairie Fire were never able to get close and fell as the final whistle blew.
"We just did not show up with the same level of intensity tonight," said head coach Kira Mowen. "We had an impressive winning streak, but now we have to bounce back from tonight's loss and finish the season strong."
Knox will attempt to get back to winning when they host Monmouth College this Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
