Bosworth posts double-double, Storm beat Iowa Wesleyan

INDIANOLA, Iowa – Maddie Bosworth scored 11 points and dished out 10 assists, Katie Ahrenholtz converted the deciding 3-point play late in the game and the Simpson women's basketball team held on to beat Iowa Wesleyan 60-53 in the second game of the Simpson Classic on Friday.

Simpson dominated the second quarter of its home opener and led by as many as 15 in the third but had to survive some tense moments to fend off a pesky Wesleyan squad.

Morgan Mauro came off the bench to score 14 points, hitting four 3-pointers to lead the Storm (2-3) and snap a two-game losing streak.

Bosworth ran the point flawlessly, going without a turnover in 27 minutes on the floor. Her 10 assists are the most by a Simpson player since 2006, just the 14th 10-assist game in school history. She came up one shy of a school single-game record.

The short-handed Tigers (1-1) got off to a fast start, shooting better than 81 percent to take a 22-16 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter was a different story. Thanks to a pair of 3s by Whitney Van Wyk, Simpson used a 10-0 run to out-score Wesleyan 19-3. The lead increased to 15 on a Noreen Morrow layup with 7:32 left in the third.

Iowa Wesleyan fought back, though, mounting a 9-0 run to close the third quarter, cutting the lead to four when Rachel Williams hit half-court shot as time expired.

Williams led the Tigers with 19 points, six rebounds and four steals. She logged 36 minutes, one of four on the team to play 30-plus due to a rash of injuries sustained early in the season.

Wesleyan cut the lead to four points on four occasions in the final quarter, but Simpson had an answer each time.

Williams cut the lead to 57-53 with 42 seconds left, but Ahrenholtz put the game away with a strong move on the right block, converting a three-point play with just 16 seconds left.

Stat of the game: Simpson's depth proved to be the difference in the game as the Storm's bench outscored Iowa Wesleyan's 21-8. Mauro did a majority of the work off the bench with 14 points.

Up next: Simpson closes the weekend against Grand View on Saturday at 3 p.m. The Vikings (4-3) lost to Buena Vista (3-2) 82-71 in the first game of the Classic.