Knox Women’s Basketball Falls at NCAA Tournament

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DUBUQUE, Iowa – The Prairie Fire women’s basketball team dropped their NCAA Tournament matchup to Loras 68-56 on Friday night. Knox was making their first ever NCAA Tournament appearance and put up a valiant fight against the No. 15 team in the nation.

The Prairie Fire struck first when Sarina Dacio hit a jumper at the 8:40 mark in the first quarter. A Catessa Duran layup gave Knox an early 4-0 lead, but the Duhawks soon took a 5-4 advantage. The teams exchanged leads over the next few minutes with Knox holding a 13-9 edge with just over four minutes left in the first period. Loras took control from there with a 13-3 run to close out the first quarter up 22-16.

Kristin Herndon hit a jumper in the first 20 seconds of the second period to cut the deficit to four points. The Duhawks slowly built up their lead in the second quarter and led 36-26 at halftime.

Loras scored the first seven points of the second half to jump out to a 43-26 lead. Knox chipped away at the lead and only trailed by 10 by the end of the third period.

Dacio hit a jumper to open the final quarter and cut the deficit to single digits. The Duhawks held Knox at bay over the next few minutes, but the Prairie Fire surged to within seven points with 4:57 to play. Loras soon took another double-digit lead. Dacio hit a trey with 57 seconds left to give Knox their final chance of a comeback, but the Duhawks finished strong to claim the victory.

Dacio led Knox with 23 points on 9-of-14 shooting. Herndon racked up 13 rebounds and Sophie Elstone added eight points.

“We fought hard the whole game,” said head coach Kira Mowen. “We proved that we belong at this level and I could not be any prouder of this team. They bought in this year and played their hearts out every game.”

Knox finishes the season with a program best 22-6 record. The Prairie Fire were 15-1 in the Midwest Conference and co-champions in the regular season before winning their first ever conference tournament.

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