No. 4/5 Storm survive comeback, advance with 73-67 win

INDIANOLA, Iowa – The Simpson College women's basketball team survived a fierce fourth quarter comeback by the Golden Gusties to advance to the second round of the NCAA DIII Women's Basketball Tournament with a 73-67 win over Gustavus Adolphus.

No. 4/5 Simpson (26-1) took a 52-35 lead into the final quarter and pushed its advantage to 19 with a pair of free throws from Cameron Kincaid with 8:24 remaining. Gustavus Adolphus (22-5) slowly chipped away at the lead and the Golden Gusties found themselves within six after an 8-0 spurt made the score 68-62 with 1:15 left. The visitors capitalized on a couple of Storm fouls to make it even closer under 20 seconds, but Kincaid and Kia Rasmussen were able to ice the game down the stretch with 4 of 4 shooting at the line.

The Storm opened the game with the first six points and later stretched their lead to 13 with a 10-0 scoring spree extending into the start of the second quarter. Kincaid and Jenna Taylor converted back-to-back layups at the end of the half to send Simpson to the locker room ahead 30-18. The Storm led by as many as 20 in the third as Taylor added eight points to her total and Rasmussen knocked down a pair of triples in the frame.

Simpson had a balanced scoring attack with five tallying between 10-14 points. Kincaid and Cassie Nash posted 14, Taylor and Anna Wanek added 12 each and Rasmussen contributed 10. Kincaid added seven rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block to her stat line, while Taylor (6) and Wanek (7) combined for 13 rebounds. Regan Freland had a game-high three steals, and Rasmussen dished out six assists.

Both teams were fairly equal in shooting percentages as Simpson was 25-61 from the floor, 7-25 from deep and 16-25 at the line and Gustavus Adolphus was 25-59, 6-21 and 11-17, respectively. The Storm scored 12 points off 17 Golden Gustie turnovers while only surrendering three points on their nine miscues.

Up Next
Simpson will face Wisconsin Oshkosh in the round of 32 on Saturday at 5 p.m. inside Cowles Fieldhouse. The Titans outscored Wisconsin Lutheran 16-5 in the fourth quarter of the night's first game to complete the comeback victory, 48-42.