Women’s basketball to host Luther for A-R-C Semifinals

INDIANOLA, Iowa – The No. 5/6 Simpson women's basketball team is set to host Luther for the semifinal round of the American Rivers Conference Tournament on Thursday evening inside Cowles Fieldhouse.

The Storm enjoyed a bye on Tuesday after claiming the top-seed in the tournament with a perfect 15-0 conference record during the regular season. Fifth-seeded Luther upset fourth-seeded Dubuque with a thrilling 53-46 road victory in the opening round.

Fans unable to attend the game in person can tune in to the live stream on SimpsonAthletics.com through the link below. Bryan Geelan and Todd Guessford will be calling the action with a pregame show beginning at 6:30 p.m. The game will also be broadcast by radio partner KNIA on 94.3 FM.

A-R-C TOURNAMENT SEMIFINAL
No. 5 Luther (10-16, 6-10 A-R-C) at. No. 1 Simpson (23-1, 15-0 A-R-C)
Thursday, Feb. 24 | 7 p.m.
Cowles Fieldhouse | Indianola, Iowa
Live Video | Live Stats | Live Audio (KNIA)

LUTHER SERIES NOTES
The Storm and Norse meet for the 91st time since the series began in 1976-77… Simpson owns a 52-38 advantage overall and has won seven of the last eight matchups, including an 85-49 road win on Jan. 31 and a 90-66 victory just five days later at home… in postseason action, the teams have split the last two matchups with Simpson claiming a 94-58 victory in the quarterfinals a year ago and Luther winning 84-61 in the 2018 tournament semifinals.

RECENT RESULTS
Feb. 5, 2022 - W, 90-66 (Indianola)
Jan. 31, 2022 - W, 85-49 (Decorah)
*March 9, 2021 - W, 94-58 (Indianola)
Feb. 22, 2021 - W, 75-60 (Decorah)
Jan. 29, 2020 - L, 73-63 (Indianola)
*A-R-C Tournament

ABOUT THE NORSE
After falling twice to the Spartans in the regular season, Luther and 11th-year head coach Amanda Bailey came away with a 53-46 win at Dubuque to advance to the semifinal round… The Norse took a 24-20 halftime lead and never trailed in the final 20 minutes, holding the Spartans scoreless behind the arc in the victory… the offense ranks fifth in the league in scoring (59.6), while the defense is sixth in points allowed (65.3)... Luther tops the league in rebounding with 42.5 per game led by freshman Kailey Jones (10.2 rpg) who is the only player in the conference to average double-digit rebounds… Jones is the lead-scorer for the Norse with 11.7 points per game, while senior Kristen Elliott averages 10.5.

ABOUT THE STORM
Simpson successfully completed another perfect conference season with a 109-64 win at Central last Saturday, the team's 20th win in a row and 25th consecutive A-R-C victory dating back to Feb. 19, 2020… the Storm lead the league with 87.0 points per game and were just shy of averaging 90 points during the conference slate… Simpson outscores opponents by an average of 24.9 points as the defense ranks third in points allowed (62.1)... the team averages the third-most rebounds (39.5).

PICK YOUR POISON
Five players average double-digit scoring for Simpson led by Jenna Taylor who ranks first in the conference with 16.5 points per game… Cassie Nash ranks fourth with 15.3, Cameron Kincaid is ninth with 12.9, and Anna Wanek (11.0) and Regan Freland (10.5) are in the top-20… Nash (60.0) has the highest field goal percentage of anyone in the league, while Taylor (56.4) ranks second, Kincaid (53.4) is fifth, and Wanek (50.7) is eighth… from beyond the arc, Kia Rasmussen (49.0) boasts the league's highest efficiency and Taylor (43.2) and Wanek (42.0) are close behind in the third and fourth spot… Kincaid (93.3) leads the A-R-C in free throw percentage, shooting over 10 percent better than the next most-efficient player.

PLAYING UNSELFISH BASKETBALL
With 21.5 assists per game, the Storm are averaging more assists than any other program in the NCAA… Simpson has compiled at least 20 assists in all but seven games this season and has posted two games with 30 or more... in total, the Storm have tallied the third-most assists (515) across all three divisions… Kia Rasmussen has accounted for 115 of those, while a trio of others have contributed at least 60… the squad ranks first in Division III in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.45)... Rasmussen has the highest individual ratio of all three women's divisions as well as two men's.

SIMPSON IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
1st - Field goal percentage (48.9)
1st - Three-point percentage (38.5)
1st - Free throw percentage (80.7)
1st - Total assists (515)
1st - Assists per game (21.5)
1st - Assist-to-turnover ratio (1.45)
4th - Scoring offense (87.0)
5th - Total scoring (2,087)
10th - Scoring margin (24.9)
10th - Three-point field goals made per game (9.3)
12th - Total three-point field goals made (224)
15th - Steals per game (13.5)

STORM IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
1st - Kia Rasmussen, assist-to-turnover ratio (4.64)
1st - Cameron Kincaid, free throw percentage (93.3)
6th - Cassie Nash, field goal percentage (60.0)
6th - Jenna Taylor, three-point percentage (43.2)
12th - Jenna Taylor, field goal percentage (56.4)
15th - Cassie Nash, total steals (80)

UP NEXT
The winner of Thursday's matchup will advance to the tournament championship game taking place on Saturday against the winner of No. 2-seed Wartburg and No. 3-seed Loras. The highest seeded team remaining will host the title game.