STEVENS POINT, Wis. - Ashley Averkamp led six players in double figures and No. 3 UW-Stevens Point beat Simpson 82-75 in the second round of the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship on Saturday night at Berg Gymnasium.
Andrea Flease, Britta Petersen and Christin Coles all scored 12 for the Pointers (27-2), who advance to the Sweet 16 to face George Fox. Flease added eight assists.
After a slow first half, Stacey Schutjer scored a team-high 22 points for the Storm (22-7), who saw their seventh consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament come to a close. Ali Sokol finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds, her first double-double of the season.
Holding on to a slim 52-50 lead with a little over 13 minutes remaining, a jumper by Sam Barber sparked a 10-0 Pointer run which resulted in a 62-50 lead with 10 minutes remaining.
Stevens Point led by as much as 13 in the final 4 minutes before Schutjer found her rythm. Held to four points and sent to the bench with foul trouble in the first half, the two-time First Team All-Iowa Conference selection scored 12 of her 18 second-half points in the final 3 minutes.
A pair of free throws from Averkamp gave UWSP a 76-65 lead before back-to-back buckets by Schutjer cut the lead to seven with 50 seconds left. Trailing by eight with 20 seconds left, Schutjer hit two free throws to make the score 79-73.
After a quick foul, Cassie Bandow missed two free throws and Sokol secured the board with 18 seconds left. But Josi Schultz snuck up from behind Sokol and came away with a steal, all but ending Simpson's comeback hopes.
Simpson stayed in the game early thanks to stellar shooting from beyond the arc. The Storm made 8 of 16 3-pointers in the first half, getting three from Sokol and two each from Mindy Hutchcroft and Jamie Elbert. Sokol scored all 13 of her points in the first 20 minutes.
Saturday marked the second meeting between the two teams this season, which was a much tighter contest than the first. Stevens Point beat Simpson 78-60 on Nov. 26 at the Buena Vista Classic in Storm Lake.