WBB Preview: Central visits Simpson on Wednesday

INDIANOLA, Iowa -- The Storm women's basketball team returns back to the gym after a week off to face Central on Wednesday for the 91st all-time meeting in the series.

The Storm (17-6, 9-5 American Rivers) aim to get back in the win column after losing 82-80 at Nebraska Wesleyan last Wednesday in overtime. The Dutch (7-16, 3-11) fell 63-57 against Luther on Saturday.

After Wednesday's game against Central, Simpson will honor its three seniors, Rachel Freland, Kali Rasmussen and Madi Paulson, as well as its senior athletic trainer, Alexandra Niemier.

The game will be video streamed live on SimpsonAthletics.com, where Bryan Geelan will have the call. Andrew Swadner and Rick Wilson will have the call for the audio stream on KNIAKRLS.com. Fans can also access the video stream via the American Rivers application on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV.

GAME 24
Central (7-16, 3-11) at Simpson (17-6, 9-5)
Wednesday, Feb. 13 | 6 p.m.
Cowles Fieldhouse | Indianola, Iowa
Live Audio | Live Video | Live Stats

CENTRAL SERIES NOTES
Simpson and Central continue its rivalry on Wednesday for the 91st time in series history … the Storm have won 35 games in a row against the Dutch have only won by 10-or-less points in eight of those contests … Simpson is holding Central to 63.6 points per game and are scoring 72.5 in the series.

RECENT RESULTS
Jan. 16, 2019 — W, 61-48 (Pella)
Feb. 7, 2018 — W, 86-58 (Indianola)
Jan. 17, 2018 — W, 89-74 (Pella)
Feb. 11, 2017 — W, 77-68 (Pella

ABOUT THE DUTCH
Central is currently sitting seventh in the conference standings after losing the last eight of nine contests … the Dutch have struggled all year on offense and are ninth in the league by scoring 56.8 points a game … the team's defense ranks in the upper half in several categories and are first in blocked shots (5.1), and opponent free throw percentage (75.7), second in field-goal percentage allowed (37.1), third in 3-point field goal percentage allowed (29.3), and fourth in rebounding defense (40.2) and scoring allowed (64.1) … Kendall Brown is first in the conference with 3.1 blocks per game and is second with 8.1 rebounds per game.

LAST TIME OUT
The Storm lost a 82-80 heartbreaker in overtime at Nebraska Wesleyan last Wednesday … the Prairie Wolves drained a shot with a second left to give them the late lead and held on to win after a last-second effort rolled around the rim and fell out for Simpson … both teams had opportunities to score near the end of regulation but were on a two-minute scoring drought to push the game in overtime … Jenna Taylor paced the team with 24 points … Central lost a tough game at home against Luther … the Dutch were down 35-29 at the half and went on to tie the game at 47-47 at the end of the third quarter, but could not hang on to win … Maci Gambell scored 17 points to lead the team and Payton Rogers grabbed 10 boards.

SENIOR SPOTLIGHT
Simpson will honor its three basketball seniors, Rachel Freland, Kali Rasmussen and Madi Paulson for their hard work and dedication to the program … Since transferring to Simpson, Freland has become a staple to the program and has appeared in 66 games ... the Prairie City, Iowa native has scored over 340 points and has 117 steals … Rasmussen is the only, soon to be, four-year letterwinner of the three and has been on the court in 71 games … she has been a constant threat from behind the arc and has scored 135 of her 141 career points from three … Paulson has only seen action in one game while playing her first-full season on varsity this year … Paulson was a member of the junior varsity squad before this year and is very active on the Simpson dance team.

STORM NOTES

• Simpson has made 242 3-pointers through 23 games and surpassed the school record of 216 set during the 2011-12 season.
• Simpson's 20 3-pointers against Dubuque on Jan. 5 are the second-most by a team in Division III this season. Westminster (Mo.) surpassed the Storm's mark with 21 treys against MacMurray on Jan. 16.
• The Storm rank second in Division III with 242 3-pointers made, rank third with 10.5 3-pointers per game and rank seventh in 3-point percentage (38.0).
• The squad has been far from selfish on offense for the year nad ranks seventh in the country with 409 assists. The Storm have dished more than 20 assists in eight games this season. Claire Johnson leads the conference with 105 helpers.
• Jenna Taylor currently sits in sixth in Division III by shooting 47.4 percent from behind the arc.
• Simpson also boasts one of the best total offenses in the nation, averaging 79.5 ppg, ninth in Division III and first in the conference and are fourth in the country with 1.829 total points scored.
• Janey Botkins captured third all-time in career 3-pointers made. Botkins now has 166 career makes, which passed Morgan Mauro, who made 163 between 2012-16.
• Simpson broke out of its slump of attracting free throw shots in a big way. On Monday, the team went 23 of 29 from the line. At the charity stripe, the team is averaging 11.5 makes per game on 15.1 attempts to lead the conference with a 76.0 free throw percentage.
• The 30 made field goals Simpson obtained on Wednesday at Nebraska Wesleyan are the most the team has tallied all year in a loss.
• Cameron Kincaid leads the American Rivers Conference and ranks sixth in Division III in free throw percentage (89.2).
• The overtime loss at Nebraska Wesleyan was the team's first overtime defeat since Dec. 29, 2016. The Storm fell 77-69 against Puget Sound.

UP NEXT
The Storm travel to Coe on Saturday for their last regular season game of the year. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.