Cold-shooting Central women suffer first basketball loss
PELLA—Shooting numbers told the story as the Central College women’s basketball team misfired much of the night in suffering its first defeat of the season, 77-61 against Simpson College Wednesday.
The Dutch (3-1 overall, 3-1 American Rivers) hit 32.9% from the floor, including an icy 12.9% from 3-point range on 4-of-31 shooting.
“For the most part, we thought we had good looks,” coach Joe Steinkamp said. “We got the kind of shots we like, we went inside-out, we had threes in transition after we broke the press, but every time we felt like we were about to make a run, we just weren’t able to make plays.”
Simpson (4-0 overall, 3-0 conference) used a 16-4 burst to bolt to a 23-12 advantage after the first quarter. The Dutch were down 43-30 at intermission and couldn’t inch closer than six the rest of the way.
“We definitely got off to a slow start,” Steinkamp said. “We proved last year we can come back from that but with our lack of making perimeter shots, we were never able to make a real run.”
Sophomore guard Carson Fisk (Searsboro, Lynnville-Sully HS) had 19 points but was the only Dutch player in double figures. Forward Payton Rogers (senior, Moravia) had eight points and 10 rebounds.
Simpson had some shooting woes as well, hitting 33.8% from the floor but knocked down 11 3-pointers and outrebounded Central 49-47.
The Dutch also lost forward Sami Craig (senior, Altoona, Southeast Polk HS), who was off to a promising start with eight points but suffered an injury. Her status is uncertain.
Central travels to Cedar Rapids Saturday to take on Coe College with an unusual 11 a.m. start time. The Kohawks are 1-2 in the league and 2-3 overall after stunning No. 2-ranked Wartburg College at home, 48-46 Wednesday. College. Central was swept by Coe last year and has dropped 14 straight in the teams’ series.
“We have to learn from this and get better,” Steinkamp said. “We have a big game coming up on Saturday. Coe has its starting five back and is another team we haven’t beaten in a while. But if we can play well, we think it’s a game we can win.”
