Storm tripped up by Coe

INDIANOLA, Iowa - The Simpson women's basketball team entered play Saturday in sole possession of second place in the Iowa Conference standings. Now, it has some company.

Hannah Breitbach and Mickey Hansche combined to make seven 3-pointers as Coe beat Simpson 66-62 on Saturday afternoon.

Morgan Terpstra scored 13 points and Whitney Van Wyk had 10, 13 rebounds and three steals to lead the Storm (14-9, 9-3), who are now tied with Coe for second with two games remaining.

Simpson trailed the entire second half until a 3 by Van Wyk trigged a 9-0 run with 10:34 to go. Maddie Bosworth made a pair of free throws with 7:34 left to give Simpson a 55-51 lead.

Breitbach's and-one with 3:43 left gave Coe a 58-57 lead before Terpstra tied it with a free throw. Mary Halvorsen gave Coe the lead with a jumper on the next possession as part of an 11-1 run that put the Kohawks (14-9, 9-3) ahead for good.

Breitbach went 3-for-5 from beyond the arch and Hansche went 4-for-6 as Coe ended the day with eight 3s. Simpson had six, getting three from Brittany Hedrick. 

Simpson had one final prayer in the closing seconds, but it was too little, too late. Terpstra's layup with 13 seconds left made it 64-60, then, after a missed free throw by Coe, Van Wyk grabbed an offensive board and hit two free throws with 2.4 seconds left. Breitbach sealed the win, though, by making two free throws with 0.7 seconds left.

Simpson returns to action Wednesday, Feb. 19 when it goes to Loras for a 6 p.m. tip. The first place Duhawks (16-7, 11-1) gave themselves some breathing room in the standings with a 77-67 win over Buena Vista on Saturday. Loras won the first meeting 55-54.

Notes: The athletic deptarment recognized two senior women's basketball players between games: four-year letterwinner Terpstra and four-year team member Jessica Hawkins.