AURORA, Ill. — The Knox College women's basketball team was within one point of host Aurora University at the half, but the second stanza proved difficult as the Prairie Fire could not keep up with the Spartans in an 89-65 defeat on Wednesday evening at Thornton Gymnasium. Dani Antione led Aurora (3-0) with 21 points and got plenty of support to counter the 26 points by junior Bria Medina of Knox (0-3).

The Prairie Fire led for the first six minutes of the game with Medina scoring the first four points en route to an 11-6 lead. But the Spartans strung together the next 10 points to go up five themselves, a lead they would never relinquish, though Medina added two more buckets to keep Knox within three after the first quarter.

Aurora extended its lead to 10 midway through the second quarter, only to have the Prairie Fire fire back and tie the score at 37 with a 12-2 run fueled by a 3-pointer by sophomore Izzy Robinson, a three-point play by senior Kylee Callahan and six points from Medina. Callahan added a 3-pointer with just over a minute left to keep Knox with one at 44-43, which is how it remained into the intermission.

Medina rained down her only 3-pointer of the night early in the third quarter to knot the score one last time at 46 apiece, but the rest of the second half was all Spartans as they outscored the Fire by double digits in both the third and fourth quarters. 

• Callahan (12 points) and Robinson (11) joined Medina in double figures.
• Medina is now 10 points shy of amassing 1,000 points in her career.
• Turnovers were the biggest factor in the outcome with Aurora forcing 25 turnovers that led to 35 points while Knox forced fewer than half that total of turnovers (12) and converted those into only two points.
• The Spartans attempted 21 more shots than the Prairie Fire and shot at a higher percentage (44.3 to 36.2), though Knox did hold its host to 21.2 percent behind the arc (7-of-33).

The Prairie Fire will be back in action on Tuesday, Nov. 18 when they play at Benedictine University (3-0). The game tips off at 7 p.m. at the Dan and Ada Rice Center and will be streamed live with stats available through PrairieFire.Knox.edu, the official website of Knox College athletics, courtesy of Benedictine.