The Simpson College women can maintain sole possession of the Iowa Conference lead tonight when they visit Buena Vista. Simpson is off to a 9-0 start in conference play while Buena Vista is a game back in the loss column at 6-1. B-V coach Janet Berry says she rarely tells her players something is a big game, but she says she’s doing that in this case.

All American guard Katie Maguire is averaging over 19-points per game but Berry says this is a different style of team. She says the graduated a first-team all conference center last year, so they’re shooting more from the perimeter this year.

This game matches the two highest scoring teams in the league. Simpson averages better than 75 points per game while Buena Vista has put up 83 per game. Maguire says they’ve had some pretty good “track meets” over the years and she expects this year to be no different.

Simpson coach Brian Niemuth hopes balance can offset Maguire’s ability to take over a game. He says she such a tremendous player that it’s hard to figure out how to stop her. Simpson scores a lot but Niemuth says the key is defense. The Storm are holding their opponents to less than 35 percent shooting and are forcing an average of 25 turnovers per contest. He says there are times when they have a shooting slump and their defense carries them.

Niemuth says there are a lot of games remaining but this is a big game as both teams are number one and two in the conference. Niemuth says the winner of the game has a bit of an advantage.