The #6 Simpson women’s basketball team survived a late run by Loras to win their American Rivers Conference opener on the road at Loras Tuesday 85-79, while the Storm men couldn’t keep up with the Duhawks falling 83-57.

The Storm women scored 31 points in the opening frame, but were then held to just six points in the second quarter to trail 39-37 at the half. The Storm again put up 30 in the third quarter to regain a 67-54 lead going into the final quarter, and held off the Duhawks to earn the win. Cassie Nash scored 18 to lead the Storm.

The Simpson men battled injuries and other roster issues, and played close with Loras in the first half to trail 33-27, but were outscored in the second half 50-30 to fall in the contest. Andrew Curran scored 15 points to lead the Storm, who shot just 4-23 from long range.

The Storm women are now 3-0 overall and 1-0 in conference play, and next play in a tournament at the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse on Friday, while the Storm men fall to 1-3 and 0-1, and host Hannibal-LaGrange on Saturday.