Simpson women win share of fourth-straight title

INDIANOLA - Stacey Schutjer scored 12 points, Jamie Elbert added 11 and Simpson beat Cornell 80-64 on Saturday, capturing a share of the Iowa Conference regular season title.

The Storm (20-5, 14-2 Iowa Conference) and head coach Brian Niemuth shared the title with Coe for the second year in a row. The title is the fourth-straight for Simpson and the 10th in program history.

Darrina Bledsoe and Amy Hamilton had nine points each and Schutjer added nine rebounds. Hamilton went 3-for-8 from beyond the arc, giving her 234 for her career. She is two shy of tying the school record for 3-pointers in a career and 11 points away from 1,000.

Simpson trailed 13-5 early but went on a 9-3 run to tie the game at 16. A pair of free throws by Mindy Hutchcroft resulted in a 38-31 halftime lead. The lead expanded to 16 on a Cathy Kain free throw with 14:07 left in the game.

A layup by Amanda Proczak pulled Cornell within six with nine minutes left, but Ashley Rogers answered with a 3 to end the run.

Camille Marie-Lidd finished with 20 points and 22 rebounds for the Rams (7-16, 2-14).

Simpson reached the 20-win plateau for the seventh-straight season and won its ninth IIAC crown under Niemuth.

The Storm go into the conference tournament with the No. 2 seed and will host the winner of the matchup between sixth-seeded Dubuque and third-seeded Wartburg on Thursday at 7 p.m. Simpson swept Dubuque during the regular season and split with Wartburg.