GALESBURG, Illinois – The Midwest Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament field and schedule has been announced.
Knox (16-8, 11-5 MWC) earned the number three seed and gets a first round matchup with two seeded Cornell. The tournament will be hosted at Ripon and the winner will play the winner of Ripon and Lake Forest. The Prairie Fire will face off against the Rams in the opening contest of the tournament at 5:00 p.m. on February 23.
Midwest Conference Tournament Central
The Prairie Fire have lost both contests with the Rams this year. On January 6 at Mount Vernon, Knox lost 61-44. Then on February 3 at home, the Prairie Fire fell 62-56 in a closely contested game. Knox trailed by just two points in the final minute, but Cornell hit four straight free throws to seal the win.
The Rams feature the second best scoring offense in the league (64.5 ppg) and limit opponents to just 56.5 points per game on the defensive end. Knox has the fourth best scoring offense in the league (64.1 ppg) and gives up 62.3 points per game on defense. The Prairie Fire also rank second in the conference in field goal percentage (.410) and third in three-point percentage (.331).
Knox returns to the conference tournament for the first time since the 1996-97 season. Their 16 total wins are the most since back-to-back 17-win seasons in the 1988-89 and 1989-90 seasons. The 11 conference victories are the most in school history. The Prairie Fire have won more games than the previous year in each of the last four seasons.
