Central women's basketball team battles for a double-overtime victory

The Dutch snap their losing streak to Simpson

by Peter Leithauser

Indianola, IA (02/26/2025) — In a game that had six ties and 22 lead changes, the Central College women's basketball team pulled out a 96-89 win in double overtime over Simpson College.

This win is the first conference tournament win since the 2020-21 season. It is also the third ever win in the conference tournament.

Central (15-11, 7-9 American Rivers) took a 22-19 lead after the first quarter before Simpson (15-11, 11-5 American Rivers) led 38-37 lead into halftime. After a 15-15 third quarter, the Dutch were down two points twice with less than a minute in the game, but Emily Naughton (sophomore, Indianola) scored two buckets down the stretch to force overtime.

In the first overtime, Central was down five points with two minutes left, but after two free throws from Abby Johnson (senior, Ankeny) and two more clutch buckets from Naughton the game was headed to a second overtime.

CeCe Moore (sophomore, Waterloo, West HS) scored five points early in the second overtime period, before Johnson and Naughton scored a combined seven points to pull away to victory. In the second overtime period Central held the Thunder to 33.3% from the field and seven points.

"This was a gutsy win from our women today," said coach Justin Weiland. "Our team stuck to the game plan, even though it was different, and it worked. We made it really hard for Simpson's leading scorers to get clean looks, and we responded well to all of its runs."

Naughton led Central in scoring with 21 points on 9-of-13 from the field. She added three rebounds and two assists.

"Naughton was under control all game, she was finishing around the rim and her defense on Simpson's leading scorer was fantastic," said Weiland. "She is a tough player and that is what it took to get this win."

Moore scored 17 points while also collecting seven rebounds, one assist, two blocked shots and two steals. Hannah Dau (senior, Paullina, South O'Brien HS) added 14 points, two assists and four rebounds. Samantha Scott (senior, Davenport, North Scott HS) came off the bench scoring 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting and Johnson added 12 points while also dishing out six assists. Gabby Moore (senior, Waterloo, West HS) scored five points but brought in 10 rebounds and dished out two assists.

"It took everyone to get this win," Weiland said. "Our women were all rebounding well, and we had five players score in double figures, it was great to see."

The Dutch shot 49.3% from the field and 30.8% from three compared to Simpson which shot 46.8% from the field and 33.3% from three. Central also had 12 offensive rebounds leading to 11 points compared to Simpson which was held to eight offensive rebounds and only six second chance points.

With this win the Dutch break a 23-year drought without a win against Simpson.

"This was the last of our season goals," Weiland said. "We wanted to win this game for our team, our seniors, and for everyone who has come through this program. For us to get this win in the conference tournament means even more."

The Dutch will look to continue to ride the momentum from this win Thursday when they travel to Cedar Rapids to take on the No. 2 seed Coe College in the semifinals at 7 p.m.

"It is a quick turnaround to face a really good team in Coe," said Weiland. "We played them very close in our last matchup, but we know it will be a battle. From being picked seventh in the preseason poll to be in the semifinals is a great turnaround for our program."

Hannah

Dau