Contact: Emily Adlfinger, Director of Athletic Communications, 563-588-7970

INDIANOLA, Iowa (Jan. 26, 2022) – Playing a close game from wire to wire and taking the lead after a strong second-quarter surge, the Loras College women's basketball team (12-6, 6-3 A-R-C) gave it everything it had in a gritty matchup against the No. 5-ranked Simpson College Storm (16-1, 8-0 A-R-C) on Wednesday evening but the Storm found settled in to close out the game with a run of their own, edging the Duhawks 81-74.

The defending American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) champions opened the game with a 4-0 start but Cierra Bachmann posted the first points for the Duhawks at the eight minute mark. Loras continued to keep it close in the first five minutes with a three-pointer by Jaime Ryan off the pass by Madison Haslow brought the Duhawks within on, trailing 10-9. Hannah Thiele knocked down a three shortly after to knot the score 12-12 and started a back-and-forth battle with two more tied scores but Simpson closed out the first quarter with a 22-18 lead.

Loras came out ready to go in the second quarter, scoring 14 unanswered points in the first four minutes off three-pointers by Bachmann, Thiele, Madison Fleckenstein, and Alli Udelhofen. The Duhawks took a 34-24 lead and forced the Storm to take a timeout and regroup. Simpson came out of the huddle with a three-pointer to score their first points of the second quarter with 4:40 on the clock but a layup by Udelhofen and free-throw for the three-point play gave the Duhawks a 37-30 cushion. The Storm added nine more points to finish the half but Bachmann had the final bucket to send Loras to the locker room with a 42-39 lead against the Storm.

Whittenbaugh brought the energy out of half time with a layup and Fleckenstein drained another three-pointer to extend Loras' lead, 49-42. Megan Murray joined in on the three-point shooting with one of her own at 5:18 as Loras pulled ahead 52-44, but the Storm came charging back and tied it 54-54 with four minutes left in the quarter. Loras added seven-straight to take back the lead with 1:25 left to go but the Storm closed out the quarter with five points and pull within two, 63-61, going into the fourth quarter.

Simpson used the momentum from the end of the third to take back the lead, 68-65, in the first half of the fourth quarter but Whittenbaugh and the Duhawks kept battling, pulling back within one point with 6:30 to play. The Storm found bursts of momentum in the final minutes of the game to give themselves the hold of the lead, but despite the deficit the Duhawks did not give up as Bachmann put away a three-pointer right before the buzzer, playing testament to the resiliency of the team against on of the top teams in Division III.

Bachmann recorded her first career double-double with 17 points and ten rebounds while Thiele added 14 points with a team-high four three-pointers. Fleckenstein also posted double-figure points with 13 while Udelhofen was a perfect in her shooting, going 2-2 from the field, 1-1 from three-point range and 1-1 at the line. Whittenbaugh added eight rebounds while Haslow led the team with four assists. As a team, Loras committed fewer turnovers than the Storm and capitalized on 12 points off 14 turnovers by Simpson, but the hosts held the advantage with 46 percent shooting from both the field and downtown to go with 90 percent free-throw shooting.

The Duhawks have a week off from competition, returning home to the Lillis Athletic & Wellness Center on Wednesday, Feb. 2 against Coe College. Tip-off is set for 5:30 P.M. and spectators are reminded per campus health and safety guidelines, masks are required at all indoor athletic events.