Women's basketball beats Wartburg, moves within a game of first

WAVERLY, Iowa - Brittany Hedrick, Morgan Mauro and Whitney Van Wyk combined to make eight of the team's nine 3-pointers as the Simpson women's basketball team beat Wartburg 75-67 on Wednesday night.

Simpson was lights-out from the field, shooting nearly 51 percent for the game while going 9-for-16 from beyond the arc. Hedrick and Mauro each went 3 of 4 from long range while Hedrick was 2 of 4.

Morgan Terpstra scored 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Storm (14-8, 9-2 Iowa Conference), who swept the season series with Wartburg. Van Wyk finished 14 points and three steals, Hedrick had 13 and six assists and Mauro had 11.

Simpson moved within a game of league-leading Loras, as the Duhawks fell to Dubuque 57-51 on Wednesday, their first conference loss of the season.

Chelsey Wedeking came of the bench to score a game-high 20 points for the Knights (8-14, 2-9), who trailed by only three at the half.

After leading 37-34 at the break, Simpson used a 13-2 run early in the second half to build a comfortable 16-point lead. Hedrick started the run with a 3 at the 17:40 mark and Van Wyk's triple with 14:59 left made it 56-40.

Wartburg narrowed the gap to 59-54 on a Bobbi Burrows layup with 8:02 left in the game, but buckets by MacKenzie Haupt and Katie Ahrenholtz pushed the lead to nine.

Simpson returns to action on Saturday when it hosts Coe at 2 p.m. The Kohawks (13-9, 8-3) beat Luther in overtime on Wednesday, 76-72. Simpson won the first meeting 73-69.

The Storm will celebrate Senior Recognition Day on Saturday.