Nic Hardly Perfect Yet, But Cards Show Promise

There is disappointment and then there is the bottom line.

North Idaho College women’s basketball coach Greg Crimp wasn’t exactly pleased with his team’s performance during a 74-55 season-opening win over Mount Royal, of Calgary Alberta, on Friday night at Christianson Gym.

“But,” the second-year coach allowed, “I don’t know if I’d ever have been disappointed with a 20-point win last year.”

There weren’t many easy wins for NIC in last year’s 11-17 season. This year may be different as NIC appears more athletic, more offense-minded and capable of better man-to-man defense.

All 16 Cardinals played. Nine scored in the first half as NIC constructed a 40-30 lead.

“We’ve got a lot of kids capable of playing,” Crimp said. “They work hard and they’re practicing well. All of a sudden we get in a game and I’ve got to make decisions that are tough decisions.”

Jelena Zrnic, 6-foot-5 sophomore, came off the bench to score seven points in the first half. She finished with seven rebounds and five blocked shots. Freshman forward Shawna Rainer had 18 points and sophomore Angie Dickson provided shooting sparks in each half and tallied 12.

Freshman forward Tayna Kirk added 15 points and 10 boards.

NIC entertains Western Montana next Friday.

North Idaho 74, Mount Royal 55

MOUNT ROYAL (55)-Nibler 0-3 7-9 7, Selmser 4-13 1-2 9, Nieman 5-7 0-0 10, Lomenda 2-10 0-2 4, Erickson 2-4, 0-0 5, Raguz 4-11 2-5 10, Kane 5-14 0-1 10. Totals 22-62 10-19 55.

NORTH IDAHO (74)-Radmall 0-0 0-1 0, Grohs 3-7 0-0 6, Howerton 2-3 1-2 6, Jacques 0-3 0-0 0, Richards 2-9 0-0 4, Dickson 4-9 2-5 12, Viebrock 0-3 0-0 0, Barrier 0-1 0-0 0, Nearing 1-3 0-0 2, Phillips 0-0 0-0 0, Burgess 1-1 0-0 2, Rainer 6-13 6-7 18, Schraufnagel 1-3 0-2 2, Harris 0-2 0-0 0, Kirk 5-13 5-6 15, Zrnic 3-4 1-2 7. Totals 28-74 15-25 74.

Halftime-NIC 40, Mount Royal 30. 3-point goals-Mount Royal 1-3 (Erickson 1-1, Selmser 0-1, Kane 0-1), NIC 3-11 (Dickson 2-6, Howerton 1-2, Grohs 0-1, Kirk 0-2). Total fouls-Mount Royal 19, NIC 19. Fouled out-Lomenda. Technical fouls-none. Rebounds- Mount Royal 41 (Kane 10), NIC 44 (Kirk 10). Assists-Mount Royal 17 (Selmser 7), NIC 22 (Dickson 6).

, DataTimes