Simpson will host an NCAA Division III women’s basketball tournament game for the first time since the 1998-99 season when it hosts the first and second round games tomorrow and Saturday.

The No. 17 Storm (23-4) will play College of St. Benedict (21-5) at 7:30 p.m. on Friday in Cowles Fieldhouse. The winner of the Simpson and St. Benedict game will play the winner of the Concordia College-Moorhead (21-6) and University of Wisconsin-Stout (20-7) game at 7 p.m. Saturday in Cowles.

Concordia-Moorhead and UW-Stout will play at 5:30 p.m. in the first game held here at Simpson tomorrow.

Simpson is playing the Blazers for the second year in a row in the NCAA tournament, and the women’s basketball team is playing its first home game in the tournament since losing to Pacific Lutheran University 60-57 in 1999.

This is also the first NCAA event in any sport at home since 2000.

The women’s basketball team is 2-5 all-time in the NCAA tournament, last winning a first-round consolation game against Buena Vista University in the 1985 NCAA tournament.

Simpson is entering the tournament after winning its third Iowa Conference Championship in the past seven years.

The team received the automatic bid into the NCAA tournament with an 81-68 win over Luther College on Feb. 25.