Storm use long ball to hold off Wartburg

 Highlights
 Niemuth Postgame Interview

INDIANOLA, Iowa - After a cold shooting effort in the first half, the Simpson women's basketball team found a rhythm in the second half and held off a late Wartburg rally in a 70-58 win Saturday at Cowles Fieldhouse.

Kate Nielsen scored 16 points to lead the Storm (13-5, 6-3 Iowa Conference), who remain perfect at home this season while extending their home winning streak to 10 dating back to last season.

Cathy Kain added 13 points, Kelsie Reeves had 11 and Chelsie Rohrs chipped in with nine.

Rohrs went 3-for-3 from beyond the arc in the second half, Kain hit three 3s and Reeves made two, leading the team to 8 of 14 shooting from 3-point range in the second after going only 1 of 8 in the first 20 minutes.

"They were doubling Stacey [Schutjer] the whole night," head coach Brian Niemuth said. "To take her out of the game makes it hard. But when you can stretch the defense like that it opens things up inside for us."

Terri Dirks scored 16 and brought down seven rebounds for the Knights (13-5, 6-3), who now find themselves in a three-way tie for second place in the league standings with Simpson and Loras.

Simpson led by 10 at halftime but watched its lead dwindle throughout the second half until a pair of free throws from Abi Weidemann made it 50-50 with 6:27 left.

"Wartburg plays great defense and shut us down early in the second half," Niemuth said. "We had to make some adjustments and built on it from there."

From that point the Storm outscored Wartburg 20-8.

Nielsen helped Simpson regain the lead with a jumper and Stacey Schutjer extended the lead with a pair of free throws after a steal by Nicole Crisp. Schutjer swatted one of her two blocks the next time down and Rohrs hit her first 3 of the game, capping a 7-0 run to make the score 57-50 with 5:08 left.

Simpson held Wartburg to less than 29 percent shooting in the first half. The Knights shot better than 46 percent in the second and used an 8-0 run with nine minutes left to tie the game.

Simpson is 7-0 at home this season but only 3-4 on the road, a trend Niemuth would like to see change.

"That's a situation I'd like to work on and try to fix," he said. "We are a good team at home but we have to learn to play with the same intensity on the road. If these girls can do that, they can accomplish some big things."

The Storm get their chance next Wednesday, Jan. 25 when they face Dubuque on the road. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.