ACKSONVILLE, Illinois - The Prairie Fire women's basketball team defeated Illinois College 80-76 on Tuesday night.
Catessa Duran put Knox on the board early with a jumper in the first minute. The Prairie Fire jumped out to a 6-0 lead, but the Lady Blues rallied back to tie the game at 6-6. After some back and forth, Knox used a 10-2 run to take an 18-11 lead into the second quarter.
Duran hit another jumper to start the second period, but IC cut their deficit to just three with 6:32 left to play in the first half. The Prairie Fire pulled away over the next few minutes and took a 43-35 lead into halftime.
The Lady Blues again cut their deficit to three early in the third quarter, but Knox quickly stormed out to an 11 point lead. IC rallied a bit to end the quarter and the Prairie Fire led 59-53 entering the final quarter.
The Lady Blues rallied to take a 62-61 lead early in the fourth period, but Knox quickly jumped back out to a 72-67 lead. With 2:17 to play, IC pulled within one point. However, the Prairie Fire never let it get any closer and a steal by Saxon Alvarez in the final seconds sealed the victory.
Catessa Duran had a huge game with 22 points and 14 rebounds to earn a double-double. Kristin Herndon tallied 16 points and nine rebounds and Haylee Carpenter added 15 points.
"We played well most of the game," said head coach Kira Mowen. "We had an interesting fourth quarter, but played well down the stretch to give us another victory with many players involved."
The Prairie Fire return to action on February 19 as they host Ripon in the final regular season game.