INDIANOLA, Iowa (Duhawks.com) - 

Each half on Saturday afternoon told a different story about the Loras College Women's Basketball team's season, a first half full of prosperity from the field and a second half riddled with turnovers, the Duhawks escaped Inidianola, Iowa with a win. After taking a 16 point lead into the locker room, the Duhawks allowed the Storm to battle back and tie the game in the second half before forcing overtime. Loras caught fire in overtime, closing out the game from the charity stripe to earn a 70-65 road win. 

The Duhawks (15-10, 9-5) opened on an extremely fast start against the Simpson Storm (16-9, 6-8), hitting their first three shots en route to a 10-2 run. The run was capped off by a deep two-pointer from sophomore Kathleen Cabrera. 

With an eight-point lead, the Duhawks executed the game plan laid out by the coaching staff perfectly in the opening 20 minutes, leading them to a 39-23 lead at halftime. Displaying patience and poise on the offensive end, Loras fed the ball into their posts. Inside, the Duhawks cashed in for open buckets or whipped passes crosscourt to theirs guards for jumpers depending on the read of the defense. Senior Victoria May thrived as a facilitator, dishing out five assists in 15 minutes of play. Sophomore center Lori Obendorf took advantage of her size, shooting over the Storm defense on her way to 13 points at the break. Consistent feeds into Obendorf and May gave the Duhawks a 24 to eight edge on points scored in the paint.

Loras led by double-digits for a large majority of the first half due to both their offensive efficiency and stifling defense. Led by sophomore Lori Obendorf with 13 halftime points, the Duhawks shot 55.6 percent compared to the Storm's 36.0 percent performance. Simpson's Britney Boland tried her best to break the Duhawk defense with seven points on 3-of-4 shooting, but early foul trouble limited her minutes.

Following a vicious block from Obendorf at the buzzer, Loras headed to the locker room holding a 39-23 advantage. 

The tune of the second half rang differently than it did in the first as the Duhawks struggled to find open shots against Simpson's defense. Despite two quick baskets for the Duhawks to open the half, Simpson benefited from a multitude of Loras turnovers to score 18 straight. The 18-0 run cut Loras' lead to two points early in the second half, setting the table for a battle in the remainder of the game.

With 8:41 remaining in the game, the Storm claimed their first lead of the game, largely due to the three-point shooting of Whitney Van Wyk who hit a trio of shots from beyond the arc in the second half. 

From that point on, the teams traded baskets for the remainder of the half up until the closing seconds of the game.

With just 3.4 ticks left on the clock, Obendorf had a shot blocked that would have given the Duhawks a single-point lead. Refusing to allow the block to kill the momentum, the Duhawks fouled the Storm. With Loras in double bonus, the Storm knocked down two shots from the free throw line, extending their lead to three.  

As the clock ticked down, junior Kaitlin Phillips rushed down court past a wave of Simpson defenders. Pulling up at the top of the key, Phillips raised above three Simpson players and let go of a 3-pointer. Her shot went just over the reach of the defenders before falling, leveling the game at 59 and forcing overtime.

In overtime, the game played much like the end of the second half with teams trading both baskets and fouls. With just 29 seconds to play, the Duhawks went back to the post game that worked in the first half resulting in Victoria May drawing contact under the hoop. After hitting both free-throws, the Duhawks shut Simpson down offensively and boxed-out to grab a decisive rebound up one. Following the rebound, Kaitlin Phillips drilled 2-of-2 free throws to put the game away. 

Suffocating defense by the Duhawks kept the Storm from getting a solid shot off, sealing the 70-65 win and the season sweep of the Storm.

Game Changer
Late in the second half, Whitney Van Wyk of Simpson hit two three-point shots in a row to give the Storm their first lead of the game.

Key Stat
The Duhawks shot just 53.8 percent from the free throw line in the second half, leaving six points on the table at the final buzzer. Just one more made would've given the Duhawks a victory in regulation.

Notables

• With 21 points, Lori Obendorf scored a career-high. Obendorf shot 9-of-13 from the field en route to her successful afternoon
• Obendorf also corralled 10 rebounds which paired alongside her 21 points gave her a double-double for the first time since the Duhawks played University of Chicago on December 17.
• Victoria May tallied her second consecutive double-double and her fourth of the season thanks to her 11 point, 10 rebound performance.
• The six assists dished out by May were good for a season-high besting her previous high of five against Buena Vista on January 7.

Quotable
Head Coach Justin Heinzen
"There's a certain mentality you need to close out teams, I don't think they played any better or that we defended any differently, but we weren't as urgent. In overtime we focused on either making the first stop or the first basket, it's a long five minutes so we just wanted to take things one possession at a time."

Up Next
The next opportunity you will have to watch the Duhawks play will be in the conference tournament taking place on February 24. Loras will host the Knights of Wartburg in the opening round of the Iowa Conference tournament play. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.