Madie Bacon (center) signs her Letter of Intent to play basketball at Simpson College. To Bacon’s right is STC varsity coach Marsha Keahna, to her left is assistant coach Ron Hala. Standing l-r are Bacon’s parents Kenny and Jill Bacon, Jake Jacobson and STC freshman coach Chelsea Ahrens. News Herald Photo/ Allison Graham

While senior Madie Bacon’s high school basketball career has come to a close, she will get the chance to continue playing the sport she loves at the next level. Bacon signed her letter of intent to play basketball at Simpson College on Friday, April 1. Simpson is located in Indianola Iowa.

Bacon will join classmates Natalie Stadler and Mitch Thede who have also committed to play at Simpson on the volleyball and football teams as well as Dylan Kalinay who is in his sophomore year on the Simpson Storm track team.

Bacon earned several honors following her senior season including WaMaC All-Conference team (1st team), the WaMaC All-Conference Academic team, and the All-District Academic Team. She also played in the WaMaC conference Senior Shootout on March 19 as well as the Larry Neimeyer Senior All-Star Game

The Storm basketball team is coached by head coach and Simpson Director of Athletics Brian Niemuth, along with assistants Adam Urness, Phil Wirtz and Ashley Rogers. Niemuth and the Storm will look to build upon last season’s 15-11 finish in hopes of returning to the top of the Iowa Conference where they captured back to back conference championships in 2012 and 2013. Bacon will join fellow WaMaC player Allison Platte (Freshman, Mount Vernon) on a roster that is dominated by Iowa players.

The Simpson women’s basketball program has a strong tradition of success, including 12 Iowa Conference Championships and 13 NCAA Tournament appearances. Simpson finished fifth in the Iowa Conference in 2016 with a big win coming over Loras who went on to win the IIAC Tournament in February.

Bacon is the daughter of Kenny and Jill Bacon of Tama.