Storm Lake, Iowa – The Gustavus Adolphus women’s basketball team suffered a 67-45 loss to Simpson College in its season-opener on Friday night Siebens Fieldhouse located on the campus of Buena Vista University. The Storm grabbed an early first half lead and never looked back, building on an 11-point halftime advantage on the way to the 22-point victory. Simpson improved to 3-0 with the win, while Gustavus is now 0-1.
Simpson built an early 16-3 lead after taking advantage of seven Gustavus turnovers in the opening eight minutes of the game. A layup by Abby Rothenbuehler (North Mankato, Minn.) with 3:48 left in the half cut the Storm lead to seven (23-16), yet it would be as close as Gustavus would come for the remainder of the game.
The Storm shot 35.1-percent from the field in the opening half, while Gustavus shot 30.4-percent. Both teams struggled from three-point range in the first half – Gustavus went 0-for-8 and Simpson went 2-for-17.
Gustavus’ shooting improved in the second half, yet still struggled to limit turnovers. The Gusties shot 39.1-percent from the floor in the second half yet still turned the ball over 11 times. By the final buzzer, Gustavus committed 24 turnovers compared to the eight of Simpson. The Storm scored a total of 34 points off turnovers in the game.
Leading Gustavus in scoring was Kelsey Florian (Roseville, Minn.) with 12 points on 2-of-4 shooting from the field and 8-of-12 shooting from the free throw line. JuIia Dysthe (White Bear Lake, Minn.) followed with nine points (4-9), and Rothenbuehler scored eight points (4-10). Gustavus shot 34.8-percent (16-46) from the field, 16.7-percent (2-12) from three-point range, and 68.8-percent (11-16) from the line.
Simpson shot 35.8-percent (24-67) from the field, 26.5-percent from three (9-34), and 83.3-percent (10-12) from the charity stripe. The Storm were led by Kat Nielson who scored a game-high 17 points, and Chelsie Rohrs and Morgan Mauro who both scored 11.
The Gustavus women’s basketball team will cap the weekend against Buena Vista University on Saturday, Nov. 24 at 3:00 p.m. in Storm Lake.