By: IC was down as many as 16 points but locked in on defense and forced overtime before Knox escaped with a three-point victory.
Box Score
JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College women's basketball team clamped down defensively in the third quarter, fueling a run that brought the Lady Blues all the way back from a 16-point deficit before Knox College survived to force overtime and escape with a 76-73 win on Wednesday night. The Prairie Fire improve to 11-5 (6-2 Midwest Conference), while IC falls to 4-11 (3-4 MWC).
A good find inside from
Shannen Quehl to
Brielle Greenleaf opened the scoring in the game, and the Illinois College junior had the first seven points of the game for the Lady Blues, leaving the game knotted at 7-7 after three minutes of play. Hailey Leinart came off the bench firing away from inside and out and connected on her first six shots. Her excellent play keyed an 8-0 run from Knox that gave the Prairie Fire a 15-7 advantage before Megan Price knocked down a three-pointer to leave the score at 15-10.
Later in the quarter, Greenleaf ducked down the lane for the layup and the foul, pulling Illinois College to within two, 17-15, on her 10th point of the game.
Grace Yaunches then had a tough righty finish in traffic to equalize for the Lady Blues at 17-17. Once again, Knox went on a run, scoring seven straight to take a 24-17 lead and the quarter ended with the Prairie Fire ahead, 28-21, behind 14 points from Leinart.
The second quarter opened with eight straight points for the Prairie Fire, including two three-pointers from Jarrelyn McCall to push the Knox lead to 36-21. The lead peaked at 16 points, but Illinois College stayed in the game and a Price three-pointer sent the game to halftime with Knox out in front, 44-33.
Illinois College made its push in the third quarter. Down 14 points at one point in time, the Lady Blues brought it back to 10 points when Greenleaf rolled in a three-pointer off the front rim and then cut it to seven, 52-45, when she hit another from the corner.
Bailey Paskach contributed four points and
McKenzie Skaggs hit a pair to get the Lady Blues back to within three, 54-51, and Sydney Himmelman ended the quarter with an inside bucket to make it a one-point game heading into the fourth.
Defense continued to be critical for both teams early on in the final quarter of regulation, with more than three minutes trickling off the clock before Knox scored on a Morgan Potter bucket. On the other end, Quehl quickly answered and the clock rolled under five minutes to play. Out of a timeout, Illinois College took the lead back for the first time since the first quarter on a Greenleaf drive. The Lady Blues then went up three on a Yaunches drive and kick-out pass to Shannon Propst for the mid-range jumper with less than four minutes left.
Karlie Thorn hit a three with 1:49 left to put Knox ahead, 64-61, but Himmelman was able to get Yaunches an open look in the final minute and the sophomore nailed it to tie the game up at 66-66. The Prairie Fire went up two with 20 seconds left, but Yaunches again answered, hitting a short jumper in the paint. Leinart had one last look in regulation but her corner jumper rattled off the rim.
The Illinois College press had troubled Knox throughout the game, but the Prairie Fire were able to break it and score the opening basket of overtime. Yaunches connected again from distance to give Illinois College its final lead, 71-70, with 3:47 to play. Leinart had gone cold after her blazing-hot start, but she made another three-pointer with less than two minutes to go to give the Prairie Fire the lead for good.
An IC turnover with under 30 seconds left meant that the Lady Blues had to start fouling and McCall made one with 18 seconds left. A quick bucket by Propst with 9.0 seconds left made it 74-73, but Leinart calmly sank two at the line for a 76-73 advantage. The Lady Blues had one final look from three-point range to tie, but Greenleaf's shot hit the back rim and bounced away.
Greenleaf ended the night with 24 points, while Quehl and Yaunches each contributed 12 points apiece. Off the bench, Propst scored 10 for the Lady Blues. Leinart ended with a game-high 25 points to pace the Prairie Fire.
Illinois College goes on the road this weekend, facing Cornell College at 5 p.m. in Mount Vernon, Iowa on Jan. 20.
