GALESBURG, Ill. — After opening the second quarter by tying the game at 20, the Knox women's basketball team could not get much else going in the stanza as the Midwest Conference leader, Ripon, outscored the Prairie Fire over the 10-minute span by a 29-7 margin and remained in control the rest of the game, leaving Memorial Gymnasium with a 76-57 victory. The Red Hawks (17-4, 11-1 MWC) got 16 points and 11 rebounds from start Ella Ten Pas, while sophomore Bria Medina had a game-high 28 points for Knox (12-9, 7-5 MWC).
Half of Medina's points came at the foul line as she went 14-for-20 from the charity stripe, doing her best to get things going for the Prairie Fire by going to the rim. But while she was 7-of-15 from the floor her teammates had a tough time with the staunch Ripon defense, knocking down just 12-of-45 field goals as Knox shot 31.7 percent for the game, including 0-for-11 from the perimeter.
The Red Hawks, meanwhile, were dominating the boards, 56-37, leading to a 19-6 advantage in second-chance points. They also featured a balanced attack with Halle Van Horn providing 15 points and Vanessa Solano 12 more off the bench, all from downtown.
- Knox had hit at least one 3-pointer in each of its last 58 games.
- Junior Kylee Callahan had 10 points as the only other Prairie Fire player in double figures, while first-year Nayeli Nidez Acuña grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds.
- Ripon swept the season series after defeating Knox in the MWC Tournament championship game last year as well.
- The Prairie Fire fell back into fifth place in the conference standings, one game behind Cornell College for the last qualifying spot for the conference tournament with four games remaining in the season.
The Prairie Fire will next look to finish off a season sweep of local rival Monmouth (5-17, 2-11 MWC) down the road at Glennie Gymnasium on Tuesday, Feb. 11. Tip-off will be at 5:30 p.m. with a live stream and stats available through the official website of Knox College athletics, PrairieFire.Knox.edu.
