While Monmouth College is fighting for a playoff spot in the Midwest Conference, they got a taste of the playoff atmosphere when they went into Galesburg and competed against arch rivals Knox College on Feb. 13.

Despite a slow start, Monmouth prevailed and put out the Prairie Fire by a final score of 72-49. The win improved the Scots to 11-9 overall and 7-6 in the Midwest Conference.

Senior Ashley Yeast said the game was intense, but Monmouth pulled away in the second half and never looked back.

“Going into Knox’s gym is always difficult,” Yeast said. “It was really loud so we came off to a slow start. We were back on our heels on defense; they got a lot of easy looks and really put our defense to shame.

“We got in our groove the last five minutes of the first half, and then we went into halftime, talked about it, came back in the second half and really had a strong 20 minutes and played the type of game that we’re used to playing.”

Yeast had another dominating game, and she led the Scots with 14 points and 15 rebounds in 28 minutes.

Fellow senior Elise Waldorf also contributed in a big way for Monmouth, as she netted 13 points while grabbing eight rebounds. Junior Tanesha Hughes was two points shy, recording a double-double, as she grabbed 10 rebounds to go along with eight points.

The Praire Fire took advantage of Monmouth’s slow start, and they held a three point lead with 7:15 remaining in the first half. The Scots closed out the half on a 16-0 run, however, and took control of the game for good.

Monmouth also scored the first four points of the second half; they managed to extinguish the Prairie Fire by going on an incredible 20-0 run.

The Scots now have three games remaining in their regular season, and they will likely have to win all three to have a chance at making the Midwest Conference playoffs.

“To capture the fourth playoff spot would definitely be a team accomplishment, I don’t think you could really put words to it on how much it would mean to us,” Yeast said. “We’re going to have to play a strong thee games and hope that somebody knocks off Beloit.”

Currently, Monmouth has one less win than Beloit College and the same number of losses. If the two teams should finish the season with the same record, Beloit would win the tie-breaker, as they defeated the Scots in both head-to-head games this season.

The Scots quest to make the playoffs will start on Feb. 15 when they play their final home game of the season against Illinois College.

They will round out their regular season with road games against Grinnell College on Feb. 18 and Lake Forest College on Feb. 20. Lake Forest is currently in third place in the MWC; so, the Scots will likely have to step up big in their final game.

Although making the playoffs is her biggest goal, Yeast said it felt great to win her final game against Knox College.

“Now I can finally say it, ‘I haven’t lost to Knox for four years in basketball or volleyball,” Yeast exclaimed. “So never losing to Knox is pretty cool.”

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