INDIANOLA, Iowa – The Simpson women's basketball team used a hot second half start and quality senior production in a 74-52 win over Wheaton College on Saturday night.
The 20th-ranked Storm (7-0) remain perfect on the year after beating a previously unbeaten Wheaton team that was receiving votes in the national polls, presenting Simpson with its biggest test of the season so far.
Controlling the action on the floor, seniors Nicole Crisp and Kelsie Reeves each had five assists and four steals on the night. Nielsen also had four takeaways.
Crisp helped the Storm take a 31-27 advantage into the locker room by scoring 11 of her 13 points in the first frame.
Simpson heated up in the second half and used a 12-2 run early on to increase the lead to 12 with 16:23 left to play. Chelsie Rohrs dropped in all 14 of her points in the second half and hit a couple of big 3-pointers during the run.
Simpson held Wheaton to just 32 percent shooting from the field on the night and forced 22 Thunder turnovers. The Storm used their full court pressure and high-intensity defense to turn the turnovers into 22 points on the other end.
Lauren Graham scored 13 points and Maris Hovee grabbed 13 boards to lead the Thunder (4-1). Wheaton's leading scorer on the season, Brooke Olson was held to just seven points on the night and 1-for-11 shooting.
Simpson travels to Des Moines to face Grand View on Wednesday, Dec. 5 at 7 p.m.