Simpson Senior Jenna Taylor scored 16 points and crossed the 1,000 point mark to lead the Storm women’s basketball team as they took down Coe College 78-68 Saturday morning in a game heard live on 94.3 KNIA. Taylor scored 14 first half points to stave off a slow start offensively for the rest of the squad as the Storm and Kohawks traded blows in the first half, with neither team finding much of an advantage, but Coe going into the halftime break with a 42-41 lead. After being held scoreless in the entire first half, the Storm bench scored 13 points in the third quarter and held Coe to just 9 total points as the Storm built a 10-point lead. The Storm held off several Kohawks rallies which would tie the game late, but Kia Rasmussen would go 6-6 from the free throw line in the fourth, and junior forward Hattie Rhodes hit a three-point shot with less than a minute to go to seal the win. Simpson assistant women’s basketball coach Moran Lonning tells KNIA Sports the slow start was mitigated as her squad found their groove later in the game.

“That’s gonna happen some nights where we don’t hit shots, but that means we have to play even harder on defense and do the little things if we aren’t hitting shots. I think in the second quarter we realized we needed to get back to the strong defensive play and let our offense come to us, and that’s what happened.”

Taylor becomes the 17th player in school history to cross the 1,000 point barrier. The Storm are now 3-0 on the season, and will next play Wednesday on the road at Central.