Dutch women’s basketball falls to Simpson

Central College

PELLA — Junior guard Emily Dine (Oldsmar, Fla., East Lake HS) poured in 21 points, including seven 3-pointers, but Simpson College put a damper on Senior Day Saturday, defeating the Central College women’s basketball team 77-68 at Kuyper Gym.

Central (9-14 overall, 2-12 Iowa Conference) held an early 4-point lead before trailing 17-16 after the first period and never closed the gap.

“Really proud of the way Emily Dine played today,” said coach Chelsea Petersen. “She shot extremely well from the 3 today.”

Sophomore forward Claire Marburger (Perry) added 16 points and seven rebounds and senior forward Jessica Butters (Kalona, Mid-Prairie HS) had nine points.

The Dutch outrebounded Simpson 38-36 and outshot the Storm from the field 44.3 percent to 42.6. However, Central had 18 turnovers compared to Simpson’s 11 and the Storm held a 25-6 advantage at the free throw line.

“The game really came down to turnovers and free throws,” said Petersen.

Central continues conference play Wednesday with a women’s-men’s doubleheader against Buena Vista with the women’s game beginning at 6 p.m. It’s the home-season finale for the Dutch and the first 100 Central students in attendance receive a free t-shirt. Buena Vista won the teams’ first matchup of the season 56-37 Jan. 7 at Storm Lake.

The Dutch saluted seniors Abbie Agan (New Sharon, North Mahaska), Butters, Emily Neff (Cedar Falls) and Savanna Thornton (Bedford) on Saturday.

“Today was a special day for us as we recognized four seniors,” said Petersen. “Anytime a student-athlete makes a four-year commitment to a program it is a testament to the number of hours of work the athlete had to put in for the team. We are extremely grateful for the contributions those seniors made to our program.”