Hot-shooting leads Simpson past Dubuque

DUBUQUE, Iowa - The Simpson women's basketball team had its best shooting effort of the season Wednesday night, beating Dubuque 92-73.

Simpson shot 60 percent from the field, the program's highest since 2008 and the fifth-best in school history. 

Stacey Schutjer tallied a 22-point, 13-rebound double-double to lead the Storm (14-5, 7-3 Iowa Conference). Ali Sokol also had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds and Kate Nielsen added 17 points.

Aimee Reyzner paced the Spartans (10-9, 5-5) with 13 points and six rebounds.

Dubuque had no answer for the one-two punch of Schutjer and Nielsen, who shot a combined 15-19. Schutjer went 9-for-11 from the field and Nielsen was 6-for-8. Nielsen added four blocks.

Simpson led from the opening tip to the final buzzer, scoring the first 10 points of the contest. Schutjer and Nielsen opened the game with back-to-back buckets before Chelsie Rohrs hit a 3. Rohrs came back and got three the hard way, completing an old-fashioned three-point play to make it 10-0 with 14:21 to play. 

Dubuque remained scoreless until Meggie Schmidt's layup with 13:48 left in the first half.

The Storm led 51-34 at halftime and never saw their lead drop below 14 in the second half.

Head coach Brian Niemuth's team now has a week to prepare for a rematch with Coe next Wednesday, Feb. 1 at Cowles Fieldhouse. The game will be televised regionally on KCRG out of Cedar Rapids.