Prairie Fire tops Lawrence women

Jenny Haskell and Kelly Ricketts scored 20 points apiece to lead the Knox College women’s basketball team to a 66-54 Midwest Conference win over Lawrence University on Friday night at Alexander Gymnasium.

Cory Paquette scored a career-high 21 points to pace Lawrence (0-14, 0-9 MWC). Nakita Chadwick added 11 points and pulled down seven rebounds.

Lawrence led by as many as six points early, going up 14-8 on Chadwick’s jumper with 13:29 left in the opening half. Knox rallied to take the lead, but Lawrence was only down 29-27 after Alex Deshler hit a 3-pointer with 2:20 left in the first half.

Knox (5-10, 4-6) then scored the final nine points of the first half to take a 38-27 lead at the half.

The Prairie Fire then scored the first six points of the second half to go up 44-27. Katie Van Es finally broke the scoring drought for the Vikings with a jumper at the 16:17 mark.

Lawrence was able to chip away at the lead but never got closer than nine points at 57-48 with 2:36 left.

The Vikings return to action on Saturday when they host Grinnell College.

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