The Monmouth College women’s basketball team mounted a comeback in the second half but couldn’t catch up to first-place Knox in a 45-38 home loss on Wednesday. The Fighting Scots (10-13, 6-8) outscored the Prairie Fire 22-15 in the second half but trailed by 14 at halftime.
Ella Goodrich (Minonk, Illinois) scored the first bucket with a banked in jumper. Knox took a 4-2 lead before Ashley Jones (Abingdon, Illinois) tied the game with a layup. Lily Harlan (Washington, Illinois) made two free throws and Zoie Wall (Bartonville, Illinois) knocked down a baseline jumper. Knox hit two straight 3-pointers to push the lead to 18-8 before Wall scored again to end the quarter.
Knox scored first in the second quarter before Tarae Warner (Burlington, Iowa) split free throws. Wall made a jumper but Knox pushed the lead to 25-13 with 4:43 to go in the half. Harlan scored the final three points of the half for Monmouth but the visitors led 30-16 at half.
Knox scored to take the lead to 16 and the Scots chipped away with a bucket from Wall and a 4-point possession by Goodrich. Knox answered with a little run and Warner made two free throws. Wall hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 38-27 and neither team scored in the final minute of the quarter.
The Scots got the first bucket of the fourth quarter on a put-back from Harlan who then drew a charge under the Knox basket. The lead bounced back and forth between nine and 11. Neither team made a field goal for nearly seven minutes and Harlan scored off glass for a 41-33 game. After Knox ended their drought with a bucket, Goodrich hit a 3-pointer and the clock went under 1:00. Warner stole the ball and Monmouth called timeout with 33.2 seconds left and Knox up 43-36. Monmouth missed a 3-pointer and Knox got the rebound and split free throws. Warner scored on the baseline to make it 44-38 and Knox again split free throws for the final points of the game.
Harlan and Wall both finished with 11 points while Goodrich scored nine. Harlan grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds and Wall had five steals.
MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Knox got their first series sweep since 2017-18Monmouth leads the all-time series 62-40…Harlan has gone for 10 points or more in 11 of the last 12 gamesShe has four double-doubles on the seasonMonmouth went 7-5 at Glennie Gym this seasonThe Scots final two games of the regular season are on the road, at Ripon and CornellThe game at Ripon is Saturday at 1 p.m.
***Courtesy of Nathan Baliva, Monmouth College***
