MOUNT VERNON – Cornell's women's basketball team overwhelmed Beloit with a 34-5 mid-game surge in Saturday's 73-42 Midwest Conference blowout at the Small Athletic and Wellness Center.
 
The Rams (14-8 overall, 8-6 MWC) snapped a three-game slide and now find themselves alone in fourth place in the MWC race with only two games to go.
 
Cornell will face its two challengers next week for the final berth into the MWC Tournament – at Illinois College (6-8 MWC) Wednesday and home against Grinnell (7-7 MWC) in Saturday's finale.     
 
The Rams rattled off 15 unanswered points to start the contest, capped by a 3-pointer from Darby Haley who was among four Cornell scorers to reach double figures with 11 points.
 
Cornell outscored the Buccaneers (6-17 overall, 3-11 MWC) by a 23-7 margin in the third period, when sophomore Erin Knowles went off for 15 of her game-high 19 points. Knowles surpassed the 900-point mark in her young career, already standing 11th all-time with 918.  
 
Heidi Jorgensen jumped to eighth place on Cornell's career 3-point list, going 4-of-6 from distance and finishing with 16 points. The junior guard has made 118 threes in 72 games.  
 
First-year Caroline Kron also had a strong game with 11 points, six assists and three blocked shots. Kallynn Stroup and Maggie Thompson shared team-high honors with five rebounds apiece.
 
The Rams shot 42.3 percent from the floor and had 17 assists on 22 made field goals. Beloit connected at only a 21.4-percent clip, including 1-of-17 in the second quarter.
 
The Rams improved to 12-0 when scoring at least 60 points this season.
 
Coming up – The Rams travel to play Illinois College (10-13 overall, 6-8 MWC) at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in Jacksonville, Ill. Cornell won the first meeting, 64-57.