GALESBURG, Illinois—The Prairie Fire women’s basketball team used a strong first quarter to earn a victory over Lawrence on Tuesday afternoon.
Knox (8-4, 3-1 MWC) sprinted to an 8-2 lead early in the first quarter and led 18-9 by the end of the stanza. The Vikings gained some ground in the second quarter, but the Prairie Fire still led 26-20 at the half. Knox used a 16-6 third quarter to pull ahead, but Lawrence would not go down without a fight. The Vikings outscored the Prairie Fire 26-18 in the fourth quarter, but Knox held on for the win.
Jarrelyn McCall scored a team-high 19 points and grabbed 12 boards to earn her third double-double of the season. Karlie Thorn, Kyra Huffman, and Hailey Leinart eached added nine points. Huffman also picked up six rebounds.
GALESBURG, Illinois—The Prairie Fire men’s basketball team came away with the loss on Tuesday afternoon after running into a hot-shooting Lawrence.
Knox (2-10, 0-5 MWC) found themselves down 17-0 after the Vikings hit six of their first eight shots, including five of seven from beyond the arc, in the first five minutes of the game. By halftime, the Prairie Fire trailed 53-22. Knox trimmed the deficit to 25 by scoring the first six points of the second half, but Lawrence quickly regained their momentum to cruise to a 100-61 victory. The Vikings shot 61 percent from the field in the first half and 59 percent for the game. They also shot 47 percent from long range, draining 16 treys.
Blake Godbold earned his eighth double-digit scoring effort of the season to lead the Prairie Fire with 10 points. He also grabbed a team-high seven boards. Jonathan Damota and Eric Thompson each added eight points. Jacob Kampf finished with seven points and six assists.
Both teams will travel to Cornell on January 6 for another Midwest Conference matchup.
