Nic Women Experiment With Perfection
Chemistry, as it applies to basketball, is nearly impossible to define, but the North Idaho College women’s team appears to have an abundance of it.
If chemistry was visible, it might look like Tammy Goyne’s pass to Shawna Rainer for a layup as the entire Cardinals bench erupted in celebration on Thursday night. Or a seamless possession where the ball didn’t touch the floor and several quick passes set up Ann Shepard’s short jump shot.
NIC so dominated College of Eastern Utah in a 95-60 Scenic West Athletic Conference win at Christianson Gym, even hard-to-satisfy coach Greg Crimp took a seat and enjoyed the show.
“The kids enjoy playing together and they like each other,” Crimp said. “They were over my head. I was just sitting there and having fun.”
First-place NIC moved to 12-2 in conference, 22-2 overall. CEU, which led 24-22 before being snowed under by NIC’s dazzling passing, dropped to 5-8, 13-12.
Jana Nearing, a 5-foot-10 sophomore forward, piled up 20 points and 16 rebounds. and sat out the last 9 minutes.
“She was everywhere,” Crimp said.
Backup center Erin Dowhy continued her inspired play of late. The 6-foot-4 freshman scored 11 of her 15 points in the first half as the Cardinals jetted to a 45-30 lead, built on the strength of a 23-6 run to close the half. Rainer added 13 points, Angie Dickson and Teresa Viebrock chipped in 11. Mandy Jacques had five assists and five steals.
Still, the Cards’ 27 assists was their most impressive statistic.
“We moved the ball real well,” Crimp said. “We found the open player and the open player put it in the hole and that made everything look pretty good.”
NIC, which leads Utah Valley and Salt Lake by one game in the loss column, entertains Colorado Northwestern on Saturday night at 5:30.
NIC 95, Eastern Utah 60
Eastern Utah (13-12, 5-8) - Young 1-2 2-3 4, Rowbury 2-5 1-2 6, Carlson 2-7 2-2 6, Hale 4-13 4-5 13, Angel 3-10 1-2 8, Tobiasson 0-6 0-0 0, McAteee 1-4 0-1 3, Baker 1-1 0-0 3, Snarr 1-4 1-2 3, Butler 4-4 2-3 10, Riffle 2-7 0-1 4. Totals 21-63 13-21 60.
North Idaho (22-2, 12-2) - Rehder 1-1 0-0 2, Goyne 2-6 0-0 4, Jacques 3-6 0-0 7, Richards 0-0 0-1 0, Dickson 5-8 0-0 11, Viebrock 4-7 3-3 11, Albers 0-0 0-2 0, Nearing 10-17 0-1 20, Roylance 0-0 2-2 2, Rainer 5-17 3-3 13, Clark 0-1 0-0 0, Shepard 2-3 0-0 4, Jensen 2-4 0-0 6, Dowhy 7-7 1-4 15, Smethers 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 41-80 9-16 95.
Halftime - NIC 45, Eastern Utah 30. 3-point goals - CEU 5-17 (Baker 1-1, McAtee 1- 1, Angel 1-5, Hale 1-6, Rowbury 1-3, Young 0-1), NIC 4-9 (Jacques 1-1, Jensen 2-3, Dickson 1-3, Goyne 0-2). Total fouls - CEU 15, NIC 17. Fouled out - none. Technical fouls - none. Assists - CEU 18 (Hale 6), NIC 27 (Jacques 5). Rebounds - CEU 37 (Hale 8), NIC 50 (Nearing 16).
, DataTimes