Big second quarter carries Storm over Nebraska Wesleyan

INDIANOLA, Iowa. -- The Simpson women's basketball team took care of business on Tuesday and won 92-72 against Nebraska Wesleyan in the opening round of the American Rivers Conference Tournament.

The Storm (20-6) are advancing to their second-consecutive semifinals appearance in the conference tournament, this time as the third seed.

The sixth-seeded Prairie Wolves (12-14) could not stop the Storm offense in the second period and allowed Simpson to take a 19-2 run to begin the second stanza. Simpson was actually on a 29-5 run at the point as the team surged for a 10-3 spurt to end the first 10 minutes of action.

Simpson outscored Nebraska Wesleyan 27-6 in the second to take a 49-20 lead into halftime. The Storm used eight different players to score, with Janey Botkins leading with 13 points and Jenna Taylor was close with 12. Not only was the offense on point, but so was the defense as it forced the Prairie Wolves to shoot just 15.8 percent from the field in the second quarter and held the team to 0-for-7 from deep.

In the third quarter, the Storm rattled off a 16-5 run to stretch the lead to 34 points at 74-30 and end the third up by 31 at 76-45.

Simpson ended the game with 11 different players scoring and Taylor paced the squad with 24 points and 11 rebounds. Botkins finished with 19 and four assists and Cassie Chubb contributed 11 points with two treys.

The Prairie Wolves were led by the league's-leading scoring, Caitlin Navratil, who netted 26 points and had six boards. Mikenzie Delgado chipped in 10 points. All nine players that saw action tallied at least two points.

TOURNAMENT TALK

Simpson visits second-seeded Loras on Thursday. Fourth-seeded Luther travels to top-seeded Wartburg.

GAME NOTES

The Storm had a 34-18 advantage in bench scoring and were plus-14 in points in the paint during the contest. On offense, the team hauled in 16 rebounds, the second highest output all season after the team grabbed 22 offensive boards against Curry on Dec. 21. Last time the teams played, the Prairie Wolves had a plus-four advantage in rebounds, Simpson redeemed itself and went plus-12 on the glass to help win. This is Taylor's sixth double-double of the season and first time tallying over 10 rebounds in eight games.

UP NEXT

The A-R-C Tournament Semifinal contest between Simpson and Loras will begin at 6 p.m. on Tuesday. The game will be held in Dubuque, Iowa.