Molly Lutmer scored her 1,000th career point as the Simpson College men’s and women’s basketball teams saw their regular seasons come to a close on Feb. 19 when they hosted the Buena Vista Beavers.
The Storm women kicked off the night with hopes of securing a first-round bye in the American Rivers Conference tournament. The Storm needed a win over Coe to keep those hopes alive.
The Storm got off to a slow start in this one, as they only led 15-13 after the first quarter against a Buena Vista team that only won three conference games this season. The Storm only shot 12% from 3-point range in the first quarter, much lower than their 40.3% season average, which leads all of division three by over 2%.
The second quarter was when the Storm started to heat up as they went on an 8-0 run to end the half, giving them a 12-point lead at the break. Senior guard Molly Lutmer was on fire from the midrange in the second quarter, as that’s how she accumulated 8 of her 11 first-half points.
After an entertaining halftime performance by the co-ed dance team, the Storm started to pull away from the Beavers by scoring 23 points in the third quarter and taking a 21-point lead to the fourth. With two minutes left in the third, Lutmer hit another midrange jumper, making her the 21st player in Simpson’s history to score 1000 points in her career. Cowles Fieldhouse went into a frenzy after the shot as Lutmer got subbed off to a standing ovation from the crowd.
“My instant reaction was relieved and proud,” Lutmer said. “Relieved to finally have the stress taken off of me and proud of myself for achieving something I worked so hard for.”
Although Lutmer is proud of her accomplishment, her goals were, and still are, fully focused on the team.
“I never thought I would ever get to 1,000 points or ever be close. My only goal was to get to the NCAA tournament and win conference championships,” Lutmer said.
Lutmer led the Storm in scoring with 20 points as the Storm beat the Beavers 80-55. The Storm clinched the third seed in the ARC tournament and will host their rival Central on Feb. 25.
On the men’s side, the Storm recognized four graduating seniors as they played in their last game in a Simpson uniform. Austin Murrow, Haydon Mead, Caden Rehmeier and Matt Schubert all got to start in their last game.
The Storm struggled early, as they only scored six points in the first nine minutes of the game. Junior guard Levi Gurwell provided a spark as he scored 12 points in the first half, including a deep 3-pointer to cut the Buena Vista lead to 11 at halftime.
Junior guard Bo Huston had the hot hand early in the second half. He provided 12 points off the bench in the first ten minutes of the second. He was able to calm an early Buena Vista push by cutting the lead back down to 11.
The Beavers caught fire again late in the second half as they pulled away from the Storm to win 77-57.
The Storm finished the season with a record of 5-20 and 2-14 in conference play. This is the fifth straight season in which Simpson missed the conference tournament.