Bumpy Season Comes To End For Nic

Region 18 women

The North Idaho College women’s basketball team was outshot, outrebounded, outhustled, outquicked and outplayed Wednesday afternoon.

As a result, the seventh-seeded Cardinals are out of the Region 18 Tournament. NIC’s bumpy season ended with a 91-62 blowout loss to sizzling Utah Valley in the first round of the tourney at College of Southern Idaho’s gym.

“I can’t remember anyone scoring 91 points against a North Idaho team,” said NIC (11-17) coach Greg Crimp. “They beat us in every aspect.”

Second-seeded Utah Valley (27-3) faces No. 6 Eastern Utah (20-11), which upset No. 3 Salt Lake 66-57 in overtime, in Friday’s semifinals.

Elsewhere, top-seeded Ricks clubbed No. 8 Snow 82-60 and No. 5 Southern Idaho pounded No. 4 Dixie 86- 58. Ricks (28-2) and CSI (20-11) meet in Friday’s second semifinal.

NIC’s seventh-seeded men (16-14) open the regional tournament here tonight at 5 PST against second-ranked Ricks (21-8).

Utah Valley 91, North Idaho 62

The Cards’ 6-0 lead quickly dissolved into a 21-10 deficit midway through the first half.

“It was pretty much over at that point,” Crimp said.

Utah Valley sophomore guard Kim Morris dissected NIC’s defense whether it was man-to-man or zone - for 18 points and seven assists.

“That No. 23 (Morris), she’s a tough player,” said NIC sophomore forward Michelle Greenwood, who scored 25 points.

“We had our best defensive player (Melissa McCullough) on her, but she was able to get by her in penetration,” Crimp said. “If she (Morris) beat one, she beat us all.”

The Wolverines’ lead swelled to 38-25 before they ended the half with 11 unanswered points, Morris scoring seven.

NIC generated little against Utah Valley’s pressure defense. Turnovers became easy Utah Valley buckets and the Cardinals often struggled initiating their offense. NIC twice had shot-clock violations in the first half.

“We’ve played North Idaho twice, and when we played well was when it was an uptempo game,” Utah Valley coach Tom Perkins said. “One of our main goals was to take out their point guard so they couldn’t run their offense and then clamp down on their inside people. I thought we did that when our starters were in.”

Utah Valley 91, North Idaho 62

UTAH VALLEY (27-3)

Harrison 2-6 0-0 4, Nelson 0-0 2 -2 2, Hawkins 5-8 4-5 15, Morris 6-9 4-7

18, Ta. Ferrin 2-3 3-3 7, Ames 1-4 0-0 2, Stilson 4-6 0-0 8, Tr. Ferrin 2-5 0-0 4, Whimpey 4-8 6-10 14, Ney 7-12 3-5 17, Stone 0-2 0-1 0. Totals 33-63 23-34 91.

NORTH IDAHO COLLEGE (11-17)

McCullough 5-16 0-0 10, Howerton 0-4 0-0 0, Wilkins 2-7 0-0 4, Tollin 1-3 0-0 2, Dickson 0-4 0-0 0, Suter 1-2 0-2 2, Phillips 1-3 0-0 2, Schraufnagel 0-1 1-2 1, Ross 7-11 0-0 14, Greenwood 9 -17 6-7 25. Totals 26-66 8-12 62.

Halftime-Utah Valley 49-25. 3- point goals-Utah Valley 2-3 (Morris 1-1, Hawkins 1-2), NIC 0-7 (McCullough 0-1, Dickson 0-2, Howerton 0-3, Tollin 0-1). Rebounds-Utah Valley 41 (Ney 8), NIC 30 (Greenwood and Suter 7 each). Assists-Utah Valley 18 (Morris 7), NIC 12 (Wilkins 6). Total fouls-Utah Valley 14, NIC 25. Fouled out- none. Attendance-200.

Eastern Utah 66, Salt Lake 57 (OT)

The Eagles wiped out a 10-point deficit to tie it 52-52, then dominated overtime.

Ricks 82, Snow 60

Lisa Thueson had 27 points and Coeur d’Alene grad Mindy Young added 13 points and five assists to pace the Vikings.

CSI 86, Dixie 58

The Eagles opened a 10-point lead by half and cruised. Post Falls High’s Jenna Umthun contributed eight points and five rebounds for the winners.