NIC women reach consolation final

Tugce Canitez dominated the paint for the North Idaho women’s basketball team Friday, scoring 20 points with 10 rebounds, to help the Cardinals (28-7) advance to the seventh- place game of the NJCAA Division I women’s national basketball championship with an 81-75 victory over Shelton (Ala.) State CC (20-14) in Salina, Kan.

Kama Griffitts added 16 points, while Katie Sanders scored 13 to go with seven rebounds as NIC shot 52 percent from the floor against SSCC, forcing 13 turnovers by the Bucs.

NIC will play Copiah-Lincoln (30-2) of Mississippi today.

•Lewis-Clark State (29-6) was knocked out of the NAIA national tournament in the second round, losing 87-59 to No. 1 seed Oklahoma City University (31-3) in Jackson, Tenn. Jasmine Stohr led LCSC with 22 points on 7-of-10 shooting.

Men’s basketball

Rakim Brown, a 6-foot-7, 190-pound small forward from Central High School in Fresno, Calif., made an oral commitment to play basketball for Eastern Washington University next winter.

Brown, who made an official visit to the EWU campus last weekend, averaged 22 points, eight rebounds and three blocks per game as a senior this season and led his team to the quarterfinals of California’s D-I Central Section tournament, where he scored 29 points in a 91-88 loss to Bakersfield.

Baseball

Ryan Jones hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift No. 25 Wichita State (11-5) to a 5-3 victory over Washington State (11-5) in Wichita, Kan.

The Cougars erased a 3-0 deficit with three runs in the top of the ninth before Seth Harvey allowed the winner to Jones in the bottom of the frame.

•Jordan Fox and Jeff Cusick each collected four hits and UC Irvine put up all six of its runs in the first two innings to topple Gonzaga 6-4 in Irvine, Calif.

Mitch Merten pitched six strong innings for the Anteaters (11-6), allowing just one run against the Bulldogs (8-9), who were led by Clayton Eslick, who doubled, tripled and drove in three runs.

Softball

After top-ranked Salt Lake CC (23-0, 21-0 SWAC) pounded out nine hits in a 12-2 win over No. 20 North Idaho (21-13, 14-8), Jordyn McDonald shone in the circle against the Cardinals in the nightcap, beating NIC 2-0 in Coeur d’Alene.

Swimming

Whitworth’s Rory Buck shattered his career best in the 100-yard breaststroke championship finals, finishing in a time of 55.25 seconds to take third at the NCAA Division III Championships in Minneapolis.

Snowboarding

Sandpoint’s Patrick Holland landed his first World Cup podium in the last event of the season, taking third at the Snowboardcross competition on La Molina, Spain.

Finishing 10th at the event was Holland’s brother, Nate, who entered the day with the best qualifying time for an American. He finished his season ranked fourth in the World Cup standings with four top-10 finishes.

Boxing

Spokane’s Chauncey Welliver won his WBC Continental heavyweight title bout against Mike Sheppard with a 10-round unanimous decision at Durant, Okla. Judges scored it 97-93, 98-92 and 99-91 for Welliver.