PELLA, Iowa – The Storm basketball teams swept its way through Pella on Wednesday, downing Central in the women’s and men’s game in what marked the midway point in the Iowa Conference slate.

Women’s Game – Simpson 65, Central 54

Losing to rival Central would have hurt, but losing to the IIAC’s worst team would have stung even more. Thanks to a dominating bench performance, 17 points from Mackenzie Haupt and yet another double-double from Noreen Morrow, Simpson evaded that scare and beat their rivals from Pella 65-54 at Kuyper Gymnasium on Wednesday night.

The Storm (11-7, 4-3) trailed 27-26 at the half but turned a 10-0 run to close out the third quarter, taking a 47-38 lead into the fourth quarter.

Simpson went 11-14 from the line in the final few minutes to seal the deal, finishing 18-25 from the stripe overall, making up for a 34.5 percent shooting night.

The bench play was the kicker as Simpson outscored Central’s (4-14, 1-5) meager bench 41-4.

Maddie Bosworth added 10 points, helping match Central’s three players in double-figures, led by Jackie Kriegel who scored 11 and reeled in six boards.

Men’s Game – Simpson 86, Central 78

Simpson has been showing vast improvements in many areas this season and appeared to have moved on from its cellar-dwelling days of the past few years.

Wednesday’s win over a strong Central team proved that a new team is truly here as the Storm didn’t relent after a 45-36 deficit at the half but rather kicked back to knock off the Dutch (12-6, 3-4) 86-78.

Central couldn’t keep up a shooting percentage of 68 percentage in the second half. In fact, they couldn’t even continue half of that, shooting only 31 percent in the second half as they succumbed to breakout performances from Sam Amsbaugh and Dillon Gretzky.

Amsbaugh scored a career-high 30 points on a career-high 5-of-6 from 3-point range, grabbing seven rebounds in the process. Gretzky went 10-of-16 from the floor, scoring 26 points in yet another solid performance from the consistent senior. The duo swiped four steals apiece, leading Simpson to 13 steals on the evening.

Simpson (12-6, 5-2) is now knotted up with Dubuque who beat Loras 81-66 on Wednesday to move to 12-6, 5-2 as well.

Saturday pits the two teams against one another as Simpson travels to Dubuque to face the Spartans for the second time this season. The men tip-off at 4 p.m., the women at 2 p.m.