Sharp-shooting Knights knock off Storm

WAVERLY, Iowa - A first-half surge powered Wartburg to a 94-74 win over Simpson on a snowy Wednesday night at Levick Arena.

Katie Zittergruen and Samantha Harrington scored 25 and 20 points, respectively, as the Knights (8-4, 2-1 IIAC) recorded their first win over Simpson since 2004.

Harrington hit five of her six threes in the first half.

After a slow first half, Simpson's Stacey Schutjer scored 13 of her game-high 17 points in the second half to go along with three blocked shots. Katie Kitzman and Mindy Hutchcroft added 13 points each for the Storm (9-3, 2-1 IIAC).

A back-and-forth battle for the first 10 minutes, Wartburg built a 14-point lead thanks to an 18-3 run over a span of 4:41. Harrington started the run with back-to-back threes, quickly erasing what was a 23-22 Simpson lead.

Consecutive three-point plays from Jeni Hegstrom stopped the bleeding for Simpson momentarily, but the Knights built their lead back to 12 by intermission.

Kitzman scored the first five points of the second half for the Storm, twice narrowing the deficit to nine points.

Simpson couldn't turn the corner, however, as Wartburg increased its lead to as much as 23 points in the second frame.

Simpson looks to improve upon its 21-game regular season home winning streak in Iowa Conference play when Loras travels to Cowles Fieldhouse on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m.