Simpson pulls away late, earns second straight win

WAVERLY, Iowa – Two 20-point scorers and a big run late in the fourth quarter helped the Simpson College women's basketball team to a 78-61 win over Bethany Lutheran on Thursday at the Wartburg Holiday Tournament.

The Storm (4-7) had two players reach the 20-point plateau for the first time this season as Molly Lutmer finished with a game-high 24 and Dylan Holland poured in 20. In the first half, Holland went 7-for-7 from the floor for 16 points to lead the team to a 37-28 advantage. Lutmer then took over in the final 20 minutes, scoring 20 points on 8 of 11 shooting from the field including 4 of 7 from deep.

Cassie Nash continued to do a little bit of everything for the Storm, scoring 12 points to go with eight steals, seven assists and six rebounds. Anna Wanek added 10 rebounds, five assists and two steals, and Holland completed her second double-double of the year with a team-high 11 rebounds.

The Storm led by as many as eight in the first quarter but found themselves down 25-24 midway through the second after the Vikings (3-9) made a comeback with the help of four makes behind the arc. A steal and a layup from Nash then ignited a 13-0 scoring spree over the next four minutes as Simpson built a 37-25 cushion.

After converting a three as time expired in the first half, Bethany Lutheran opened the third stanza with an 11-4 run to cut Simpson's lead to two, 41-39. The Vikings converted 8 of 10 attempts at the charity stripe to hang with the Storm in the quarter, trailing by just seven going into the final 10 minutes.

The Storm looked to run away with it after back-to-back threes from Lutmer and Elle Street gave Simpson a 60-45 lead in the fourth, but the Vikings used some 3-point magic of their own to pull within eight, 62-54, with five minutes to play. Simpson then shut the door for good with a 16-3 run fueled by 12 points from Lutmer. The Storm forced five turnovers during the span as Nash collected two steals and Wanek added a third.

Simpson converted just six of 21 attempts from downtown but made up for it in the paint, outscoring the Vikings by an impressive 52-16 margin. The Storm scored 27 points off 24 Viking turnovers.

Up Next
Simpson stays in Waverly to conclude its nonconference schedule with a 1 p.m. game against Northwestern (Minn.) on Friday.