The Simpson Storm women’s basketball team ran through the American Rivers Conference regular season and conference tournament undefeated for the second straight year Saturday afternoon, taking down Wartburg 62-59 as heard live on 94.3 KNIA.

The Storm survived an off-shooting night from long range, and had to come back repeatedly throughout the contest, trailing the Knights 16-15 after the first and 31-28 at the halftime break. The Storm slightly outscored the Knights in the third to get the game closer heading into the fourth at 48-46, and went on a run in the fourth to build a six point lead late.

The Knights refused to go away quietly however, and the Storm uncharacteristically missed free-throws down the stretch to let the Knights have a shot at the buzzer to tie it, but the shot went wide and the Storm clinched the championship.

Senior Anna Wanek said after the game you never quite get used to the feeling of cutting down the nets.

“I have no words. It’s indescribable. We have worked so hard for this all year, and to get to cut the nets down again, it’s surreal.”

Senior Kia Rasmussen said after winning last year, but the NCAA tournament being canceled, they knew what their goal was from the start, and they are one step closer to their goal.

“Knowing last year our season was going to end, we knew how bad we wanted to come back and get this opportunity. So I think we all worked harder than ever in the offseason to get right where we are.”

The Storm are now 25-1 on the season, and await their opponent and location in the NCAA tournament which will be announced Monday afternoon.