Storm continue ascent in national rankings
INDIANOLA, Iowa – The Simpson women's basketball team continued its ascent among the top teams in Division III, moving up one spot in each of the major polls released early this week.
The Storm – who extended their winning streak to 11 games last week and improved to 20-1 on the season – moved up to No. 7 in the USA TODAY Sports Top 25 Coaches' Poll and No. 9 in the D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll. Simpson beat Buena Vista (76-42 on 1/30) and Luther (85-76 on 2/2) while once-beaten Lewis & Clark lost to Whitworth (53-52 on 2/1) to allow Simpson to move up.
The rankings are the highest achieved by the Storm in each poll since Jan. 19, 2009, when coach Brian Niemuth's team reached No. 7 and No. 9 in the USA TODAY SPORTS Top 25 and D3hoops.com polls, respectively.
Simpson goes into Wednesday night's matchup with Wartburg holding a four-game cushion in the league standings with only four games remaining. A win would give Simpson the Iowa Conference Championship outright, its sixth in a row.
