Simpson ends season in A-R-C Tournament thriller

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- For the first time in three seasons, the Simpson women's basketball team failed to reach the second round of the American Rivers Conference Tournament after a 72-69 overtime loss at Coe on Tuesday.

Jenna Taylor came off the bench to score a team-high 18 points, while Claire Johnson and Cassie Nash both scored 12 points. The duo of Cassie Chubb and Cameron Kincaid each added 10 points to help the cause.

The Storm (18-8) had a rough night shooting the ball by only connecting on 31.1% of their shots and went 6-for-26 from behind the arc. The Kohawks (16-10) had a little better of a night as they made 40.6% of their attempts and tallied nine treys.

The contest started out slow for both teams as the league foes combined to shoot 5-for-33 in the first quarter, but Simpson prevailed with a 10-6 edge after the first 10 minutes of play.

In the second stanza, both squads started to hit their stride to find the bottom of the net for some points. The Storm grabbed a six-point edge at 15-9, before Coe tied the game at 17-17. The hosts went ahead by six after back-to-back triples. As the clock was expiring in the half, Johnson tallied a bucket to trim the deficit to two at 27-25.

During the third period, Simpson made a comeback to regain the lead after being down by six. A 3-pointer from Taylor put the Storm ahead by two with 4:01 to play and Taylor ended the quarter by scoring the team's last five points to put the game in their favor at 48-45.

At the halfway point in the fourth, Simpson pushed the advantage to seven. The offense then went cold as Coe responded with eight-straight points to take a one-point lead, before Chubb drilled a triple from the corner to halt the run. The Kohawks' Jackie Feldt knotted the game at 61-61 with a basket and aimed to score the game-winner with a second on the clock, but missed the layup to send the game into overtime.

With 75 seconds left in the extra frame and the game sitting at 68-68, Coe connected on a triple to go out in front. Taylor made a pair of free throws to bring the game to within one and Simpson had to foul late in the game to stay alive. Kincaid made a layup with two seconds left to put the game within reach at one, but the Kohawks made a pair of free throws to extend the lead once again and seal the triumph.

Coe dished out 24 assists in the win as Simpson only passed out eight. The Storm held the advantage in bench scoring by tallying 20 points, compared to the Kohawks' 15.