Cowles Fieldhouse was buzzing on Saturday, Jan. 18, as both the men’s and women’s basketball teams took on the Loras College Duhawks.
The women’s team kicked off the evening, bringing a bit of anticipation to the floor. Leading up to the competition, senior guard Haley Rasmussen was just within reach of the 1,000 career points threshold. With the first basket of the game, Rasmussen etched her name in Simpson College women’s basketball history as the 20th player in program history to reach 1,000 career points.
Momentum carried the Simpson Storm as they commanded an 8-0 lead early on in the first quarter. Rounding out the first quarter with a lead of 16-9, the Storm continued to distance themselves from the Duhawks. Heading into the half, the Storm were ahead 46-23.
The Storm were dominant from behind the arc, knocking down 15 3-pointers. A key contributor off the bench for the Storm was junior guard Maddax DeVault. DeVault’s five 3-pointers of the night and three rebounds contributed to her 21-point performance.
After the break, the Storm continued to pull away from the Duhawks, bringing Simpson an 82-53 victory. Senior guard Molly Lutmer led the way for the Storm, putting on a 22 point performance with four rebounds and three assists.
The Storm are now 9-8 this season and sitting fourth in the American Rivers Conference standings, which would earn them a spot in the conference tournament.
“Our team goal is to make it to postseason play; each game is preparing us for that,” Rasmussen said. “I think just keeping that in mind, knowing that we are doing it for each other, is really special.”
First-year students Ella Anderson, Karsen Jacks and Morgan Christian have proven to be great additions to the program.
“This group put a lot of work in, in the off-season, to get better and replace some parts that we are missing from last year. So that was huge to have, especially seeing some freshmen step up,” Rasmussen said.
Following the women’s win, the men’s basketball team took the floor to take on the Duhawks, whose men’s team is tied for the top spot in the American Rivers Conference standings. The Storm gave the Duhawks a run for their money in the first half, at one point leading 27-19. The Duhawks closed in on the Storm, eventually taking a 39-37 lead at the half.
A dominant second-half performance by the Duhawks allowed them to pull away from the Storm. Junior guard Levi Gurwell and senior forward Matt Schubert paved the way for the Storm. Gurwell recorded 13 points and three rebounds. Schubert had 10 points and three rebounds of his own. The Duhawks defeated the Storm 100-72.
The men are currently sitting eighth in the conference standings. With aspirations of making the conference tournament, picking up additional wins in the next month of competition is necessary to boost the Storm into conference tournament contenders.
Both the men’s and women’s teams travel to Dubuque on Saturday, Jan. 25, to take on the Spartans.
