By sinking thirteen three pointers, Storm was able to beat Central and up their record to 3-2. This game marked the 46th consecutive win against Central and 71-31 in the all-time series.
Senior shooting guard, Molly Lutmer, dropped a career 28 points on 11-18 shooting. Lutmer, along with Haley Rasmussen, led the way for the Storm combining for a total of 44 points and being leaders on the floor as seniors. Lutmer has taken her leadership a step further this year with a younger squad. The Storm have a relatively young team this year with two starters being freshmen.
“My role has expanded to being more of a leader both on and off the court. With being one of the captains on the team, we just want to put our team in the best position to be successful,” Lutmer said.
Coach Brian Niemuth cares less about age and more about the style of play. He likes to get his team out and running which allows for more girls to get in the game.
“We’re trying to wear the other team out, we play anywhere from ten to twelve players in a game. The way we play, our style, we couldn’t play just seven or eight,” Niemuth said.
Niemuth showed this style by having eleven players on the court during the game. Niemuth’s squad played tough man-to-man defense the whole game.
The main two scorers for Simpson are Lutmer and Rasmussen, but tonight they needed points from the supporting cast as well with both teams shooting very efficiently. Maddax Devault had an important performance with twelve points off the bench, along with Elle Street who had ten.
“The thing I was happy to see tonight was when Haley got in foul trouble and we had to sit her, that we didn’t lose anything offensively. That’s something that I’ve been wondering, how it would go if her or Molly had to sit for extended period of time,” Niemuth said.
Conference games aren’t usually played this early in the season, so the Storm’s unusually early game gives the team a chance to pull ahead and get extra playing time. Niemuth also emphasized the probability of early-season upsets and changes in second-semester teams.
“Any time you get a conference win, it’s a nice win, this conference is so balanced and good. Playing a conference game this early is a little different,” Niemuth said.
The Storm faced two games last weekend. On Saturday, Nov. 30, they matched up against St. Benedict. For Coach Niemuth, St. Benedict is a familiar foe as he’s faced them many times in the NCAA tournament.
“I know they’ll shoot the three, they’ll shoot it well, they’ll shoot it a lot, they’ll guard us man to man, they’ll be athletic. I guess I’m kind of describing our team too, it’ll be a fun game to watch,” Niemuth said.
