MONMOUTH, Illinois – The Prairie Fire women’s basketball team defeated Monmouth 45-38 on Wednesday night. Knox moves to 18-4 on the season and 13-0 in Midwest Conference play. The 18 wins ties a program record for wins in a season, a feat last achieved by the 1987-88 team.
The Prairie Fire jumped out to an 18-8 lead in the first quarter and they maintained their double-digit lead for most of the second quarter to lead 30-16 at halftime.
The Fighting Scots chipped away at the lead in the second half, outscoring Knox 22-15. Monmouth never got within six points of the Prairie Fire and Knox was able to cruise to victory.
Kristin Herndon picked up her third straight double-double performance to lead Knox with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Juliana Vinluan added 10 points and Catessa Duran pulled down 12 boards.
“Proud of the effort tonight from the defensive side of the floor. We took Monmouth out of most of their half court options,” said head coach Kira Mowen. “The first half our offense was clicking on all cylinders and we were getting great looks at the basket. I need to do a better job of making changes for the second half to put us in better positions to score. When you have games like these your defense has to step up, and we did just that. We now focus on Beloit on Saturday for our Senior Day.”
The Prairie Fire return to action as they host Beloit on February 11.
