GALESBURG, Ill. — While junior Bria Medina provided 24 points and sophomore Nayeli Nidez Acuña added a double-double of 23 points and 10 rebounds, the Knox College women's basketball team was unable to knock off undefeated Lawrence on Tuesday evening at Memorial Gymnasium as the Vikings held the rest of the Prairie Fire team in check in a 76-64 final. Sophie Morey led all players with 26 points to keep Lawrence's record unblemished at 6-0 overall and 1-0 in the Midwest Conference, while Knox (2-4, 1-1 MWC) had its modest two-game win streak come to an end.

The night began quite well for the Fire as they scored the game's first nine points, five coming from senior Kylee Callahan. But that would be all Callahan would produce as she found herself in early foul trouble. Although Knox maintained the lead throughout the first quarter, the Vikings gradually whittled away at the deficit and trailed by just one after the first 10 minutes, 20-19.

The script was flipped to start the second period with Lawrence rattling off the first seven points and led by as many as eight. But after scoring just two points in the first seven minutes of the stanza, Knox held the Vikings scoreless the rest of the half while tallying 10 points to suddenly find itself with a 32-30 lead at the break. Medina had 14 points to lead all players over the first half.

Again the Prairie Fire struggled to score at the outset of the third quarter as Lawrence built up a nine-point advantage at 43-34 with just over four minute left in the period. The two teams started trading buckets as Nidez Acuña started to heat up, scoring Knox's next 11 points in a 90-second span. And when senior Carly Smith hit a short baseline jumper with two minutes to go in the quarter, the Fire trailed by just two at 49-47.

Knox would never have the ball again with a chance to tie the game as the Vikings scored the final five points of the quarter, and the closest the Prairie got in the fourth period was following a Nidez Acuña three-point play with 8:40 left, bringing Knox within four at 56-52. Lawrence pushed its bulge to double digits with two minutes remaining on a pair of Olivia Kesti free throws and never let the Fire get close again.

• Medina, the third leading scorer in all of Division III, hit 8-of-17 field goals and 8-of-9 free throws to account for her 24 points.
• Nidez Acuña, meanwhile, was 8-of-15 from the floor with two 3-pointers (double her previous career total) and 5-of-8 at the foul line, not to mention contributing five steals, four assists and two blocked shots.
• The Knox defense limited Lawrence to just 36.8 percent shooting (25-of-68), but the Vikings hit 20-of-24 (.833) at the charity stripe, led the battle of the boards, 44-33, and turned 24 Prairie Fire turnovers into 21 points.
• The Vikings won their second straight meeting with Knox after the Fire had won 28 of the previous 31 encounters.
• Callahan was honored before the game for becoming the fifth player in program history to score 1,000 career points, reaching the milestone in the final game of the 2024-25 campaign.

Knox next hosts rival Monmouth College (2-3, 0-0 MWC) on Saturday, Dec. 6, after the Fighting Scots play their league opener at home against Illinois College on Wednesday evening. Tip-off at Memorial Gymnasium on Saturday will be at 3 p.m., and the game will be streamed live with stats available through PrairieFire.Knox.edu, the official website of Knox College Athletics.