Fast start pushes Storm to 95-53 victory over Aurora

DECATUR, Ill. -- The Simpson women's basketball team only missed three of its 16 3-point attempts in the first half to claim a 43-point lead at halftime en route to a 95-53 victory over Aurora in the first night of the Millikin Holiday Classic on Friday.

The Storm (6-3) outscored the Spartans (5-2) 33-12 in the first quarter after going 6-for-7 from behind the arc and ended the second stanza by connecting on seven of their nine attempts from 3 to tally another 33 points. Simpson ended the contest with 15 makes from long range on a 55.6% clip and shot 54.0% overall.

After Aurora owned a quick 4-3 advantage in the first quarter, the Storm offense produced a 20-0 spurt to capture the lead for good. Kia Rasmussen scored eight of her game-high 20 points during the scoring spree. Madie Bacon made two consecutive baskets to close out the period for Simpson.

To start the second period, Rasmussen drained back-to-back triples in a span of 25 seconds to lift the scoring lid to jump-start a 16-0 run. Both teams stalled for the last 4:13 of the half as Simpson sat with a 61-23 advantage and only scored five more points to go into intermission with a 66-23 tilt.

In the third quarter, Rasmussen produced six points on 2-for-2 shooting from behind the arc to pace the team. The Spartans scored their most points all contest with 19 in the stanza, but still fell short to the Storm's 21. In the fourth, Simpson failed to score over 10 points as Aurora outscored the Storm 11-8.

Rasmussen finished the game by shooting 7-for-9 to tie her career-high for points scored. Cassie Chubb tallied 13 points and six rebounds, while Madie Bacon scored 10. Hattie Rhodes poured in 11 points by making all four of her attempts off the bench.

Up Next
Head coach Brian Niemuth searches for his 600th career win tomorrow as Simpson takes on Millikin at 4 p.m. The Big Blue won 73-47 over Earlham to advance to the title match.