Women’s basketball to battle Wartburg for A-R-C Tournament title
INDIANOLA, Iowa – The Simpson College women's basketball team is set to host the American Rivers Conference Tournament Championship for the second time in as many years on Saturday afternoon when second-seeded Wartburg comes to town for a 4 p.m. showdown between two nationally-ranked programs.
No. 5/6 Simpson enters the game on a 21-game win streak and is looking to collect its second-consecutive and eighth overall tournament championship win. No. 18 Wartburg has won its last seven games and is searching for its sixth tournament title and first since 2020.
Fans unable to attend the game in person can tune in to the live stream on SimpsonAthletics.com through the link below. Bryan Geelan will be calling the action with a pregame show beginning at 3:45 p.m. The game will also be broadcast by radio partner KNIA on 94.3 FM.
A-R-C TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIP
No. 2 Wartburg (21-4, 13-3 A-R-C) at. No. 1 Simpson (24-1, 15-0 A-R-C)
Saturday, Feb. 26 | 4 p.m.
Cowles Fieldhouse | Indianola, Iowa
Live Video | Live Stats | Live Audio (KNIA)
WARTBURG SERIES NOTES
Saturday's game between the Storm and Knights is the 94th meeting between the squads… Simpson owns a 56-37 advantage in the series and has won the four of the last five contests including two overtime thrillers in Waverly… the last time the two squads met in the conference tournament was in 2014 when the Knights earned a slim 55-54 victory in the first round… Simpson and Wartburg last faced off in the tournament finals in 2009 when the Storm emerged victorious 74-45.
RECENT RESULTS
Jan. 29, 2022 - W, 78-73 OT (Waverly)
Dec. 11, 2022 - W, 90-74 (Indianola)
March 1, 2021 - W, 81-80 2OT (Waverly)
Feb. 15, 2020 - L, 102-62 (Waverly)
Jan. 22, 2020 - W, 66-62 (Indianola)
WHAT'S AT STAKE
The winner of Saturday's title game will earn the conference's automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Tournament, while the loser will hope to be selected as one of 20 at-large bids. With Simpson (1), Wartburg (5) and Loras (6) all ranked in the most recent Region IX rankings, the American Rivers Conference could be represented by multiple squads in the 64-team bracket. The selection show is scheduled for Feb. 28 at 1:30 p.m.
ABOUT THE KNIGHTS
Wartburg advanced to its fifth championship game in the last six years with a come-from-behind 68-54 victory over third-seeded Loras on Thursday… the Knights rank second in scoring offense (76.9), points allowed (60.6), free throw percentage (73.8), and assists per game (21.6) while boasting a league-low 14.0 turnovers per game and ranking third in field goal percentage (40.5) and three-point percentage (34.4)... on the glass, Wartburg ranks fourth with 39.2 per game… Jaedon Murphy leads the way with 15.4 points and 6.1 rebounds… three other Knights average more than nine points per game.
ABOUT THE STORM
Simpson punched its ticket to the title game with a 106-75 semifinal win over Luther on Thursday… the Storm started the game with an 18-0 run and continued their offensive prowess the rest of the way, setting a new school record for points in a half (69) and surpassing the century mark for the second game in a row… the Storm lead the league with 87.7 points per game and have outscored opponents by an average of 25.1 points as the defense ranks third in points allowed (62.6)... the team averages the third-most rebounds (39.4) and tops the league in steals (13.48) and assists (21.68) per game.
LAST TIME THEY MET
Simpson won both regular season matchups between the teams by final scores of 90-74 and 78-73 (OT)... in the first game, the Storm jumped out to a 20-3 lead in the first five minutes and finished the game with 15 makes behind the arc for the double-digit victory… Simpson went ahead by as many as 31 points over the then-No. 5/8 Knights and was led in scoring by Regan Freland with 17 points… the second game was much closer and took an extra period to determine a victor… Simpson trailed by five with just nine ticks left on the clock but had one last opportunity to tie the game after two missed free throws by Wartburg… Freland played the hero for the second year in a row in Waverly, knocking down a buzzer-beater triple to send the game to overtime where the Storm would win by five.
PICK YOUR POISON
Five players average double-digit scoring for Simpson led by Jenna Taylor who ranks first in the conference with 16.9 points per game… Cassie Nash ranks fourth with 15.4, Cameron Kincaid is ninth with 12.8, and Anna Wanek (11.1) and Regan Freland (10.8) are in the top-20… Nash (59.8) has the highest field goal percentage of anyone in the league, while Taylor (57.9) ranks second, Kincaid (53.0) is fifth, and Wanek (50.9) is eighth… from beyond the arc, Kia Rasmussen (50.0) boasts the league and nation's highest efficiency, Taylor (45.4) ranks second, and Wanek (40.9) is close behind in the fourth spot… Kincaid (92.4) leads the A-R-C and country in free throw percentage, shooting almost 10 percent better than the league's next most-efficient player.
PLAYING UNSELFISH BASKETBALL
With 21.7 assists per game, the Storm are averaging more assists than any other program in the NCAA… Simpson has tallied the third-most assists (542) among the three divisions… Kia Rasmussen has accounted for 121 of those, while four others have contributed at least 60… the squad ranks first in Division III and II in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.50)... Rasmussen has the highest individual ratio of all three divisions - men's and women's.
SIMPSON IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
1st - Field goal percentage (49.2)
1st - Three-point percentage (38.8)
1st - Free throw percentage (81.0)
1st - Total assists (542)
1st - Assists per game (21.7)
1st - Assist-to-turnover ratio (1.50)
3rd - Total scoring (2,193)
4th - Scoring offense (87.7)
9th - Scoring margin (25.1)
10th - Three-point field goals made per game (9.4)
12th - Total three-point field goals made (236)
16th - Steals per game (13.5)
STORM IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
1st - Kia Rasmussen, assist-to-turnover ratio (4.84)
1st - Kia Rasmussen, three-point percentage (50.0)
1st - Cameron Kincaid, free throw percentage (92.4)
4th - Jenna Taylor, three-point percentage (45.4)
5th - Cassie Nash, field goal percentage (59.8)
9th - Jenna Taylor, field goal percentage (57.9)
9th - Cassie Nash, total steals (84)
