Seventh-Ranked Ricks Smacks North Idaho

College women

Somebody gave animated North Idaho College women’s basketball coach Greg Crimp a “Crimp Smackomatic,” a padded device he could use to take out his frustrations.

Had he chosen to use the Smackomatic, positioned behind NIC’s bench, it would probably be in shreds this morning.

However, Crimp could only sit glumly on the bench through most of the second half as NIC was routed by No. 7-ranked Ricks 70-43 on Friday night at Christianson Gym.

“I didn’t think we could play that bad again,” said Crimp, whose club fell to 6-8 in the Scenic West Athletic Conference, 10-13 overall. “That brought back bad memories of how we played earlier this season.”

Crimp’s club took a step backward after making great strides through the middle of the season. Most disturbing was NIC’s 33 turnovers and 24 percent shooting.

Ricks (13-1, 24-1) ran subs in waves at NIC and wore down the Cardinals. By halftime, nine Vikings had scored en route to a 32-17 lead.

NIC’s turnovers never stopped. Ricks often converted in transition, and its 3-point shooters slipped away from defenders to sink seven 3s.

Ricks guard Mindy Young, a Coeur d’Alene High grad, hit 3 of 4 treys, which will boost her SWAC-leading 46 percent on 3-pointers.

Young, a 3.9 student, plans on attending Brigham Young on an academic scholarship. She won’t continue playing basketball.

“We’ve got some shooters,” Ricks coach Trent Shippen said. “Our balance has been a huge factor for us all year.”

NIC’s starting backcourt of Julie Wilkins, Melissa McCullough and Beth Palmer were a combined 2-for-23 from the field. Center Sid Schraufnagel had 10 points and eight boards.

“I don’t think we had one good performance from any of our kids,” said Crimp, who will board a 6:30 flight this morning south to watch Lake City High play in tonight’s girls A-1 state title game at Boise. His stepdaughter, Lindsay Herbert, is a freshman at LC.

Ricks 70, North Idaho 43

RICKS (13-1, 24-1)

Benson 2-5 2-3 6, Gee 5-15 2-2 13, Caverhill 2-4 2-3 7, Thueson 2-8 2-6 6, Young 3-6 0-1 9, Baird 0-0 1-2 1, Ruy 1-3 0-1 2, Packer 1-4 3-4 5, Rasmussen 2 -4 3-4 7, Riley 4-11 0-0 10, Baldwin 2-5 0-0 4. Totals 24-65 15-25 70.

NORTH IDAHO (6-8, 10-13)

McCullough 1-10 0-0 2, Howerton 1-3 2-2 5, Wilkins 1-5 0-1 2, Tollin 0-1 0-0 0, Dickson 0-5 0-0 0, Palmer 0-8 6-7 6, Suter 4-9 0-0 8, Phillips 0-1 0-1 0, Schraufnagel3-4 4-4 10, Ross 0-2 0-0 0, Greenwood 3-9 2-2 8. Totals 14-58 14- 17 43.

Halftime-Ricks 32-17. 3-point goals- Ricks 7-17 (Young 3-4, Riley 2-4, Gee 1-7, Caverhill 1-2), NIC 1-8 ( Wilkins 0-1, Dickson 0-4, Howerton 1-3). Rebounds-Ricks 39 (Riley 9), NIC 39 ( Palmer and Schraufnagel 8 each). Assists-Ricks 19 (Gee 4), NIC 10 (Palmer 3). Total fouls-Ricks 20, NIC 20. Fouled out- none. Attendance- 250.

Boise State 72, Idaho 68

The Broncos (6-2, 12-8) overcame a 12-point halftime deficit to beat the Vandals (2-6, 4-16) at Moscow.

The Broncos were led by a game-high 29 points by former Post Falls High standout Michelle Shultz, and Verna Guild, who finished the game with 21 points and 12 rebounds.

The Vandals were led by junior Mindy Rice, who was 11 of 16 from the field and finished with 28 points. Junior Kari Wykes also had 11 rebounds for the Vandals, who have lost three consecutive Big Sky contests.

In the first half, the Vandals used a fullcourt press to jump ahead of the Broncos by as many as 17 points in the first half.

Boise State then outscored Idaho 8-3 to open the second half and tied the game with 11:56 to go in the second half. The Vandals hung tough and the game see-sawed back and forth until the Broncos took the lead for good with 4:49 left in the second half.

“In the first half, obviously our press was effective,” said Idaho coach Julie Holt. “In the second half the press was still fairly effective but once they got in the halfcourt offense we fouled them.”

EWU 76, Idaho State 52

Lori Napier’s 18 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists paced Eastern Washington (4-4, 8-12) to a win against Idaho State (2-6, 3-19) at Reese Court.

The win keeps EWU in a fourthplace tie with Northern Arizona (4-4, 12-8). The top four finishers in the conference go to the league tourney.