STORM LAKE, Iowa (February 17, 2021) - The Buena Vista women's basketball team jumped out to an early 13-point lead at No. 13 Simpson College on Wednesday night, but the Storm eventually caught fire from long range and the Beavers upset bid fell just short with a 79-68 loss inside Cowles Fieldhouse.

Sophomore Olivia Larsen had a career night for the Beavers in a losing effort, scoring a career-high 34 points and grabbing a career-best 14 rebounds en route to her first career double-double.  She finished the game shooting 11-of-24 overall, including 5-of-11 from downtown, while also making 7-of-11 at the charity stripe.  She flirted with a triple-double as she also tallied seven steals.  Her 34 points are the most scored by any American Rivers Conference player this season and the most for a BVU player since 2017-18 (Jasmine Demers; 32 at Dubuque).  Senior Cassy Miller added three long range buckets and turned in 12 points and five assists.  As a team, BVU made a season-high nine three-point shots.

The Beavers scored 15 of the game's first 17 points to build their largest lead of the game.  Simpson, however, slowly chipped away at that margin by finishing the opening frame on a 9-2 run to get within 17-11.  The Storm, which made just three total field goals in the opening period, began to find their stroke, making three from beyond the arc in the second quarter to help them go to the locker room up 34-32 at the half.

Simpson continued its torrid long range shooting to start the second half by going 6-of-11 from distance in the third quarter to push its lead up to 62-47 heading to the fourth.  The Beavers fell behind by as many as 24 early in the quarter but didn't go away. The team made three more field goals than the Storm in the period but couldn't get any closer than 11.  Larsen scored 17 of her 34 over the final 10 minutes.

Senior Jenna Taylor, the A-R-C's leading scorer entering the contest, led Simpson (5-0, 4-0 A-R-C) with 26 points and 14 rebounds and was one of two Storm players to make four three-point buckets.  As a unit, Simpson finished 13-of-30 from long range.

Buena Vista dips to 1-4 overall (1-4 A-R-C) and will remain on the road this Saturday to play at the University of Dubuque.  Tip-off against the Spartans is set for 5:00 p.m.