WAVERLY, Iowa – University of Northwestern Women's Basketball took on Simpson College in a neutral site game on Friday in the second round of the two-day Wartburg Holiday Tournament. The Eagles fell to the Storm 81-45.
 
After the Storm scored the first basket of the game, Livvy Grosz (New Brighton, Minn./St. Anthony) hit a three-pointer to give UNW a 3-2 lead. Simpson went on to retake the lead, though Northwestern played close through the first half of the opening quarter. Rylie Hirschey (Pine River, Minn./Pine River Backus) made another three-pointer for Northwestern to get within a point down 10-9 with 4:03 remaining in the first quarter, but the Storm went on a six-point run to move to the second quarter up 16-9.
 
In the second quarter, the Eagles got within five points with a layup by Allison Terry (Blaine, Minn./Blaine), trailing 25-20. The game reached halftime with Simpson leading 33-25.
 
At the start of the third quarter, Grace Landvik (Roseville, Minn./Concordia Academy) made a three and Lexi Hagen (Jordan, Minn./Jordan) drove for a layup to get Northwestern back within three points, trailing 33-30. The Storm, however, would go on to shoot 76.9 percent from the floor in the quarter to take a 59-35 lead.
 
The momentum stayed with Simpson in the fourth as they took the game 81-45.
 
Hagen led the Eagles with eight points and three assists in the game to go with eight rebounds. Landvick had a team-high nine rebounds.
 
Up next, Northwestern returns to the Ericksen Center for their first game of 2023 on Tuesday, January 3, at 5:00 P.M. against Finlandia University.