Cardinals stay alive, to play for ninth place

Led by Yang Yang, the North Idaho volleyball team staved off elimination at the NJCAA national tournament Friday at West Plains, Mo.

The Cardinals (24-10) beat West Texas (21-13) and Temple (23-19) and will play Mineral Area (35-6) today for ninth place.

Yang had 13 kills and six blocks in NIC’s 25-19, 25-15, 26-24 win over West Texas. Emily Sarff had 11 digs and Sierra Pancho handed out 22 assists.

The Cardinals beat Temple 25-22, 25-19, 18-25, 25-23. Yang had 14 kills and six blocks and Mariah Smith had 11 kills and 10 digs for NIC.

Today’s match is set for 8 a.m. PST.

• The Community Colleges of Spokane fell to Clackamas, but stayed alive in the NWAACC tournament at Mount Hood Community College in Gresham, Ore., with a win over Lower Columbia.

The Sasquatch fell 16-25, 18-25, 25-21, 25-22, 15-11 to Clackamas (31-17) in their opening match. Kate Hart had 14 kills and Brigitte Lowe and Eileen Chatfield added 10 apiece.

The loss dropped CCS (34-6) into the consolation bracket, where it stayed alive with a 26-24, 25-22 win over Lower Columbia (18-23).

CCS plays Bellevue (22-12) today.

• Eastern Washington wrapped up the regular season with a 3-2 loss to Sacramento State in a Big Sky Conference match in Cheney. Scores were 25-21, 24-26, 20-25, 25-22, 15-8.

EWU’s Lindsey Petroni tied a career high with 31 digs. It was her seventh career match with 30 or more digs – a school record. The Eagles have the fourth and final seed to the conference tournament and will play top-seeded Northern Colorado Friday in Portland.

• Colorado (6-22, 1-19) regrouped after dropping the first two sets and beat Washington State 3-2 in a Pac-12 Conference match in Boulder, Colo. Game scores were 21-25, 22-25, 27-25, 25-20, 15-6.

Meagan Ganzer matched a career high with 31 kills for the Cougars. Chelsey Bettinson added a career-high 13 kills and Camryn Irwin passed out 54 assists for WSU (12-17, 4-15).

WSU plays tonight at Utah.

• Summer Ross had 13 digs and Krista Vansant added 10 kills and six digs as Washington won a Pac-12 match at Utah (9-20, 4-16) 25-18, 27-25, 28-26.

The Huskies (20-7, 12-7) play at Colorado today.

Women’s basketball

Senior guard April Cook eclipsed 1,000 points for her career and Washington State rolled to a 69-51 win over Wisconsin (1-3) in Madison, Wis.

Jazmine Perkins had 16 points, Ireti Amojo had 12 and Tia Presley (Gonzaga Prep) had 11 for WSU (2-1). Cook, who entered the game with 999 career points, scored 10.

The Cougars play at South Dakota State on Sunday.

• Millikin (1-1) broke open a close game in the second half and beat Whitworth 77-64 at the Big Blue’s Coaches vs. Cancer Classic in Decatur, Ill.

Lexi Belcher scored 16 points and Kayla Johnson had 13 points and eight rebounds for the Pirates (0-2), who play Wisconsin-Whitewater today.

• Amanda Buttrey scored 13 points and Jenna Humphrey added 10 as Community Colleges of Spokane (1-0) cruised to an 81-27 season-opening win over South Puget Sound (0-1) at the Everett Classic in Everett.

CCS plays today against Bellevue.

• Kate Buskey had 14 points and Korina Baker added 13 as North Idaho (2-1) beat the North Idaho All-Stars 77-64 in Coeur d’Alene.

Bianca Cheever and Lindsay Herbert each scored 15 for the NIC All-Stars.