Middle quarters propel Simpson past Dubuque

DUBUQUE, Iowa – Cassie Nash broke the program's 22-year-old career steals record and the Simpson College women's basketball team outscored Dubuque 40-26 between the second and third quarters for a 79-67 road win in American Rivers Conference play.

With the victory, Simpson pushed its win streak to three and moved into fourth place in league standings with an 8-6 conference record. The Storm sit one win behind Coe and will look to stay a game ahead of Dubuque and Luther in order to earn hosting privileges in the A-R-C Tournament.

Nash placed herself at the top of the career steals leaderboard less than three minutes into the contest with her 254th career takeaway, passing Lisa Cowling who set the previous record in 2001. Nash tallied six more steals before the game was over for her sixth career game with 7+ steals and 19th with at least five.

The Spartans (13-10, 7-7 A-R-C) won the first quarter 18-17 and went ahead 28-19 in the second, but Simpson ended the half on a 15-0 spree to lead 34-28. The Storm (13-10, 8-6 A-R-C) added seven additional unanswered points to start the third quarter and Dylan Holland scored 17 points in the final 13 and a half minutes to help Simpson leave Stoltz Sports Center with a victory.

Holland and Nash tied for a game-high 19 points as both converted six field goals and made huge impacts at the charity stripe; Holland went a perfect 7-for-7 at the line, while Nash went 7-for-9. Simpson shot an impressive 88.9 percent at the line as a team.

Haley Rasmussen ended the game with 18 points powered by four 3-point baskets including three during the Storm's 15-0 run that put the visitors ahead for good.

Along with her 19 points and seven steals, Nash dished out seven assists to notch her fifth game of the year with seven or more. Anna Wanek added four assists of her own to go with eight points and six rebounds. Holland led the Storm with seven boards.

Tabria Thomas proved why she's one of the conference's top scorers with 29 points on 10-for-11 shooting from the floor and 5-for-8 shooting at the line. Morgan Hawkins added eight points and a game-high 11 rebounds for the home team.

Up Next
The Storm will play their final road game of the regular season at Nebraska Wesleyan on Wednesday evening. Simpson then returns home for Senior Day on Saturday when Central comes to town.