Knox College Women's Basketball

Hired in May of 2025, Emily Carpenter comes to Galesburg after serving three years as the women’s basketball head coach at her alma mater, the University of Wisconsin-Superior, compiling a record of 45-34 overall and 32-10 in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference. Serving as the interim head coach in her first year, Carpenter helped the team beat the preseason prognostications that had the team placing sixth by guiding the team to a third-place finish, qualifying for the four-team conference tournament. In 2023-24, Carpenter guided the team to the UMAC regular-season title with a conference record of 13-1 and finished the campaign 18-9. This past season, she led the Yellowjackets to another regular-season crown at 11-3 as well as the UMAC Tournament championship to earn a berth in the NCAA Division III Tournament. Under Carpenter’s leadership, UW-Superior produced a UMAC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, eight All-UMAC honorees (including two on the first team), three members of the league’s All-Defensive Team and eight College Sports Communicators Academic All-District selections. Prior to returning to UW-Superior, Carpenter served as the assistant softball coach for two seasons (2021-22) at Gustavus Adolphus College in hometown of St. Peter, Minnesota. Carpenter graduated from UW-Superior in 2020 with a degree in exercise science and community health promotion. A two-sport athlete for the Yellowjackets, she was a prolific 3-point shooter for the basketball team and played two years on the softball squad. Carpenter ranks second all-time in 3-pointers made (160) and fourth in 3-point field goal percentage (.415) at the school while also setting program marks for 3-pointers made (63) and attempted (151) in a season as a senior. A two-year starter at point guard, Carpenter played in 106 games in her career and finished her four years with 336 assists, second most in program history. She played a big role in helping UW-Superior win three UMAC regular-season championships and two UMAC Tournament titles, advancing to the NCAA Tournament in her first two campaigns.

Kelsi Thompson was hired in October 2025 as the assistant women’s basketball coach for the 2025-26 campaign. She comes to Knox having served as the assistant girls’ basketball coach at Galesburg High School for the past three years. A member of the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association, Thompson had numerous responsibilities at Galesburg, including helping with guard skill development as well as scouting and game planning, working on defensive strategy and development in practice, mentoring underclassmen and co-directing elementary school camps in the summer. Thompson also worked as an internal substitute within the Galesburg Community Unit School District 205 at King Elementary (2022-23) and Silas Willard Elementary (2023-25). In 2021, Thompson earned n associate’s degree of general studies from Carl Sandburg College, then stayed on to receive an associate’s degree in mortuary science two years later. She was also a member of the women’s basketball team for three years, and in her final season, she averaged 7.5 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists over her 16 games on the court. Thompson lives in Galesburg with her husband, Chad Thompson, who is an assistant coach for the Prairie Fire men’s basketball team.