Rasmussen carries Storm to 101-59 win over Dubuque

INDIANOLA, Iowa -- The Simpson women's basketball team hit the century mark for the first time this season as Kia Rasmussen led all scorers with 20 points in a 101-59 victory over Dubuque on Tuesday inside Cowles Fieldhouse in the American Rivers Conference opener for both squads.

Rasmussen was nearly perfect as the sophomore ended 7-for-9 from the field and went 6-for-8 from behind the arc. The Storm (2-1, 1-0 A-R-C) had three other starters score in double figures as Cassie Nash had a career-high 14 points, Cassie Chubb scored 13 and Cameron Kincaid poured in 12.

Simpson shot 51.5% and came close to shooting the same from distance by draining 48.4% of its attempts. The Storm defense held the Spartans (3-2, 0-1 A-R-C) to 37.9% shooting and allowed Dubuque to go 3-for-20 from three.

Rasmussen opened the scoring for Simpson with a 3-pointer as the team emerged on an 8-2 run after the tip. The Spartans rallied back to tie the game at 8-8, but another Rasmussen triple swayed the momentum. After the three, Hattie Rhodes and Nash teamed up to score the the Storm's next nine points to give the squad a 20-9 advantage.

At the start of the second quarter, Simpson had a 22-15 lead and stretched it to 49-31 at the half after Rasmussen scored nine points in the frame, as all were shot from behind the arc. Coming out of halftime, the Storm had their largest scoring output in the A-R-C battle with 35 points in the stanza. Simpson used a 13-0 run as Allyson Simpson, Chubb and Rasmussen all connected on 3-pointers during the spurt.

In the final quarter, Raegan Boothe and Alaira Tyus both netted six points as the Storm were held to just 17 points. Simpson's defense played tough as Dubuque scored 13 points, its fewest all evening. Caitlynne Shadle made two free throws to push Simpson into the triple digits on the scoreboard.

Notes
• This is the second time in the last three meetings between the teams that Simpson has scored over 100 points. The Storm won 102-65 last season against Dubuque on Jan. 5, 2019.
• The 15 3-pointers Simpson made are tied for third most in program history. The record was hit last season in the Jan. 5, 2019 win over Dubuque as the offense sent 20 through the net.
• Coming into the game, the Spartans were averaging 78.8 points per game and were held to nearly 30 points below their average.
• On defense, the Storm forced 31 turnovers and scored 41 points off those miscues to capitalize.
• Simpson is currently second in the league in scoring at 84.3 points per game.

Up Next
The Storm are back in action on Friday as they host the Simpson Thanksgiving Classic. The Storm play at 7 p.m. against Concordia-Moorhead and end the weekend with a 3 p.m. showdown against Calvin on Saturday.