Turn back the clock to Feb. 4, 2012, and you’ll find the last time the Simpson women’s basketball team with an ugly home loss.

They were in action Wednesday evening taking on Dubuque on their Senior Night, but unfortunately the Spartans put a damper on it defeating the Storm 72-56.

The Storm came into the game tonight with an overall record of 22-1, and 12-0 in conference. The Spartans came into tonight match with an overall record of 16-7, and 6-6 in conference play.

The first time that these teams met up a few weeks ago it was a hard fought contest coming down to the last few minutes where Simpson pulled away.

Unfortunately for the Storm, this would not be the case tonight. The rim was simply unfriendly for the final regular season home game for seniors Chelsie Rohrs, Nicole Crisp and Kate Nielsen.

The first half was very slow paced and merely a defensive game for the first few minutes. The Storm could not knock down any of their shots which continued to be a recurring theme for the night as they only shot 27 percent from the field in the first half compared to Dubuque who shot 47 percent.

The Storm, who also rely heavily on the three point basket, were not getting any of those to fall either. The Spartans defense was creating complete frustration for the Storm, who have not experienced this at all this season. The Spartans went into halftime with a double digit lead 33-23.

The Storm, who have notoriously been a second half team this year, had no answers in the second half. The Spartans came roaring out of the gate going on a large run while Simpson struggled to score any points whatsoever.

Simpson shot just 1 of 21 from the 3-point line in addition to the Storm shooting just shooting 7 percent from the floor.

The Storm attempted a late run of their own, but the deficit was too large to overcome. The Spartans went on to win taking advantage of Simpsons worst shooting effort all season only shooting 22 percent from the field.

Despite the loss tonight, freshmen Whitney Van Wyk and Brooke Panzer, two of the more prominent rookies that the Storm have, are very pleased and thankful for the seniors and their commitment on Senior Night.

“We have great upperclassmen leaders and they’ve showed all of us freshmen just how far good leadership can take us as well as how close it can make us on and off the court,” Van Wyk said.

Panzer also wouldn’t trade her senior teammates for anything despite the loss.

“I couldn’t have done it without the help and guidance of the seniors,” said Panzer. “They have been very encouraging and helped me through any questions I had during the first couple of weeks of practicing. They have made it a much easier process for me to learn how to play Simpson basketball which will help me down the road.”

Even though the Storm had a rough night this team is still very unified and will continue to get through any more challenges that they will face together this season. This is just a bump in what has been a very smooth road all year.  

The Storm will look to bounce back from the loss Saturday when they take on Central in the final regular season game of the year. Tip off will be at 2 p.m.