WBB Preview: Storm head to Dubuque on Saturday

INDIANOLA, Iowa -- The Simpson women's basketball team takes its 10-game winning streak on the road this weekend to Dubuque for a 2 p.m. showdown on Saturday.

The Storm (14-3, 6-2 A-R-C) picked up a 66-62 victory of No. 7 Wartburg on Wednesday to snap a nine-game losing skid to the Knights and moved into a three-way tie for second in the American Rivers Conference standings. The Spartans (5-12, 1-7 A-R-C) fell 77-62 at Luther on Wednesday to remain eighth in the A-R-C standings.

Fans can access the video stream via the American Rivers application on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV or by visiting SimpsonAthletics.com to find the video link.

GAME 18
Simpson (14-3, 6-2 A-R-C) at Dubuque (5-12, 1-7 A-R-C)
Saturday, Jan. 25 | 2 p.m.
Stoltz Sports Center | Dubuque, Iowa
Live Video | Live Stats

DUBUQUE SERIES NOTES
Simpson and Dubuque meet for the 81st time in a series that dates back to 1980 ... the Storm have a 71-9 advantage in the series and have won the last four contests ... Simpson won the opening game of the 2019-20 series, 101-59, for its first conference win this season ... Kia Rasmussen was on fire during the contest by making six of her eight attempts from distance to end with 20 points ... The Storm had three other starters score in double figures as Cassie Nash had 14 points, Cassie Chubb scored 13 and Cameron Kincaid poured in 12.

RECENT RESULTS
Nov. 26, 2019 — W, 101-59 (Indianola)
Jan. 26, 2019 — W, 91-55 (Indianola)
Jan. 5, 2019 — W, 102-65 (Dubuque)
Jan. 24, 2018 — W, 85-65 (Indianola)
Dec. 6, 2017 — L, 88-86 (Dubuque)

ABOUT THE SPARTANS
Dubuque is currently eighth in the A-R-C standings with just one league victory coming against Buena Vista, 76-63 ... since the win, the Spartans have dropped the last three conference games and have lost the last nine of 10 overall ... the offense is seventh in the A-R-C in scoring at 67.9 points per game and the defense is allowing 76.9 points per outing for seventh as well ... Tabria Thomas is first in the scoring column for Dubuque with 12.2 points per contest ... Miah Smith is leading the conference in rebounds at 8.8 and has amassed 60 offensive boards for first.

LAST TIME OUT
The Storm snapped a nine-game losing streak to Wartburg on Wednesday in a 66-62 battle inside Cowles Fieldhouse ... Simpson led the majority of the contest against the nationally-ranked Knights and used a 22-point opening stanza to garner a nine-point advantage ... in the fourth, Wartburg led at 59-58 for its first lead since the first, but the Storm rebounded with a triple from Jenna Taylor to overtake the Knights ... a basket from Cameron Kincaid sealed the win to give Simpson the lead at 63-62 and the Storm held on to win ... Cassie Chubb led the squad with 17 points on five makes from behind the arc, Kia Rasmussen had 11 and Taylor had 11 off the bench.

STORM NOTES
• Simpson in the national rankings:

1st — 3-point shooting (41.5%), field goal percentage (48.5%)
3rd — total points (1,415)
4th — scoring offense (83.2 ppg)
8th — 3-pointers made (163)
9th — assists (300)
11th — assists per game (17.6)
12th — 3-pointers made per game (9.6)
18th — free throw percentage (75.2%)
19th — steals (215)

• Storm in the national rankings:

Kia Rasmussen — second in 3-point percentage (53.4%)
Cassie Chubb — seventh in 3-point percentage (47.3%), fifth in 3-pointers made (52), 13th in 3-pointers made per game (3.06)
Claire Johnson — 15th in assists (88), 24th in assists per game (5.2)
Cameron Kincaid — sixth in free throw percentage (91.3%)

• Simpson is second in the conference in scoring at 83.2 ppg and fourth in scoring defense by allowing 64.8 ppg.
• All five starters are averaging double figures for scoring with Cassie Chubb at the top with 13.9 ppg. Cameron Kincaid is second at 11.9, followed by Cassie Nash and Kia Rasmussen at 11.2, and Claire Johnson rounds out the starters at 10.8.
• Simpson's current winning streak of 10 games is the longest since the 2012-13 squad won 13th-straight contests. That team finished the year 27-3 and started the year on a nine-game winning clip and ended the campaign in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.
• Head coach Brian Niemuth earned his 600th career victory on Dec. 21 in a 76-69 victory over Millikin. Niemuth became the ninth active women's basketball head coach in the NCAA Division III to hit the 600-win plateau.

UP NEXT
Simpson returns home on Wednesday to face Luther at 5:30 p.m. The Storm won 90-66 in the previous meeting between the schools on Jan. 19.