The Simpson Women’s Basketball team was defeated by Wartburg College in a 64-55 loss, despite leading for the first half of the game.
Despite a slow start for both teams, sophomore Ella Anderson’s 13 first-quarter points helped the team get out to an early lead. The women held this lead for the rest of the first half by as much as six points before Wartburg nearly gained on the Storm by the half.
The Storm continued to push ahead, going on a 6-1 run to start the second half, which put the team back up by seven points. Though the Knights slowly pulled their way back into the game over the third quarter, as the teams traded shots back and forth and ended tied 44-44 at the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Wartburg began to hit three consecutive three-point shots to put themselves ahead. Simpson and Wartburg continued trading shots from there, but it wasn’t enough for the Storm to pull back into the game.
Wartburg was crowned A-R-C conference regular-season champions with their win, holding a record of 15-1 in conference games.
Despite the loss, junior Doryn Paup said she thinks the game helped the team realise they can play well against any team in the conference.
“Tonight we played some of our best basketball yet, against a great opponent,” Paup said. “It just didn’t go in our favor this time, but I think it definitely motivates us knowing we can stick around at the top of the conference.”
Sophomore Tayor Hanson agreed.
“We have now played well against both Coe and Wartburg, and we still get another chance at Coe, so I think we have a lot of motivation that we can beat some of the best teams in the conference.” Hanson said.
Individual statistic leaders included sophomore Anderson who led the Storm with 16 points. First-year Keira McCormick also led the team with nine rebounds, and Senior Maddax DeVault contributed to the team with five assists. Paup also had a good game as she scored four points while acquiring seven rebounds and four steals.
As a team, the Storm acquired 16 steals, which kept the Wartburg offence out of rhythm. Paup said it was a team effort to gain so many steals.
“All my teammates were super aggressive in the passing lanes, and that led to some bad passes getting tipped my way,” Paup said.
The Storm finished regular conference play 9-7 receiving a 4th place seed for the A-R-C tournament. Overall the Storm finished the season 13-13.
