The women's basketball team faced regular season champions and nationally ranked No. 6 Simpson College tonight at the Cowles Fieldhouse in Indianola, for a semifinal game of the American Rivers Conference Tournament. The Norse were making their 14th appearance in the semifinal round since the tournament began in 2000. Simpson blistered the nets tonight and defeated Luther by a final of 106-75.

The Storm got off to a quick start and held a 69-34 halftime lead. During the first two frames, Simpson missed just 13 attempts connecting on 26-of-39  that included a 10-of-15 performance from distance. The Storm finished the night shooting 54.5%.

Luther outscored Simpson in the second half 41-37 and finished the game shooting 50%. The Norse were 31-62 from the field that included 8-of-23 from three-point land.

Four Norse tallied double figures led by Kailey Jones with 20. Megan Miller was next with 17, followed by Grace Prokosch and Kristen Elliott with 12 and 10 respectively.

The Storm's Jenna Taylor led all scorers with 27. She was 11-of-12 including a perfect 5-for-5 from behind the arch. Regan Freland added 20 points. Cassie Nash with 15, Anna Wanek with 13 and Cameron Kincaid with 12 completed the list of double digit scorers.

Luther finishes its season with an overall record of 10-17, a huge turn around from last year's 1-10 COVID shortened season. The positive for Head Coach Amanda Bailey is that she returns the majority of this year's team losing just five seniors.

Simpson is now 24-1 and has won 21 consecutive games. They will host the No. 2 seed Wartburg College on Saturday for the A-R-C Tournament championship game at 4:00 p.m. The winner will earn the league's automatic berth to the NCAA III National Tournament.