Nic’s Triumph Not Very Stylish

College women

Aside from the fouls, turnovers and missed shots, North Idaho College women’s basketball coach Greg Crimp got exactly what he wanted - and needed - on Saturday night:

A win.

The lack of style points in NIC’s 56-50 decision over College of Eastern Utah at Christianson Gym may have agitated Crimp during the game, but not afterward.

“It’s a win over a good club, which we haven’t done this year,” said Crimp, who was pushed to stomping the floor and slamming his fist on the scorer’s table by his team’s sloppy play. “I didn’t get to sit back and light a cigar, but it’s a win.”

NIC, 13-4, improved to 4-4 in the Scenic West Athletic Conference. CEU is 14-5, 4-3.

NIC’s Tanya Kirk scored 20 points and Julie Grohs connected on three key second-half buckets.

“Kirk hurt us,” CEU coach Dave Paur said.

What hurt more was CEU’s frigid 13-of-58 shooting, but it stayed close by making 22 of 28 foul shots.

Grohs’ baseline drive and nifty layup gave NIC a 50-40 lead with 5:50 to play. The Eagles closed to 54-50 and had a couple chances to pull within two.

“We’re the highest-scoring team in the league (78 points per game), but it was pretty obvious we couldn’t hit a shot,” Paur said. “I thought NIC’s defense was fair, but we missed a lot of layups.”

Crimp didn’t agree.

“I thought we defended the heck out of their guards,” he said.

Kirk got the better of her matchup with Lindsay Allen, the SWAC’s top scorer and rebounder. Allen had 19 points and 14 rebounds before fouling out. Kirk snagged 15 boards.

North Idaho 56, Eastern Utah 50

Eastern Utah (14-5, 4-3) - Taylor 2-6 4-5 8, Elison 3-16 1-2 8, Cummings 0 -2 2-2 2, Kallas 2-7 1-1 6, Allen 5-15 9 -11 19, McKay 1-5 5-7 7, Riffle 0-7 0-0 0. Totals 13-58 22-28 50.

North Idaho (13-4, 4-4) - Radmall 0-6 0-0 0, Grohs 4-11 0-2 8, Howerton 3- 5 0-0 7, Jacques 1-4 0-0 3, Richards 1-5 4-4 6, Nearing 1-2 2-2 4, Burgess 0-0 0- 0, Rainer 3-10 2-6 8, Schraufnagel 0-2 0 -2 0, Harris 0-0 0-0 0, Kirk 7-17 5-8 20, Zrnic 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-62 13-22 56.

Half- NIC 28, CEU 23. 3-point goals-CEU 2-14 (Elison 1-9, Kallas 1-4, Cummings 0—1), NIC 3-6 (Radmall 0-1, Howerton 1-2, Jacques 1-1, Kirk 1-2). Total fouls-CEU 22, NIC 23. Technical fouls-none. Fouled out-Allen, Elison. Rebounds-CEU 41 (Allen 14), NIC 48 (Kirk 15). Assists-CEU 5 (Taylor, Elison each 2), NIC 13 (Jacques 4).

Washington 93, WSU 76

Washington used a second-half blizzard to snow in the Cougars after leading by a point, 46-45, at halftime.

The win moves the Huskies into sole possession of second place in the Pacific-10 Conference race with a record of 10-6, 4-1.

Washington State (12-4, 3-2) fell into a tie for third with Arizona (12-1, 3-2) and Oregon State (11-3, 3-2).

, DataTimes