Cardinals Stay Cool, Get Win

It wasn’t an easy night for North Idaho College women’s basketball coach Greg Crimp on Friday, but the results turned out fine.

It was NIC’s last regular-season home contest, and pregame and halftime ceremonies honored the seven sophomores who have helped turn the Cardinals back into title contenders. Crimp seemed to choke up as he talked about each player on the public-address microphone during halftime festivities.

Also weighing on Crimp’s mind was his stepdaughter, Lindsay Herbert, who was playing for Lake City High at the state tournament in Nampa at the same time as NIC faced Ricks.

Not to mention that Ricks is a tough outfit.

But NIC held off the Vikings 75-70 before 700 fans at Christianson Gym. Lake City won, too, and Crimp was to board a plane this morning to go watch Herbert in tonight’s state title game.

“There were a lot of emotions,” Crimp said. “I don’t know if I had my head into things all the time.”

His team, though, kept its cool as the first-place Cardinals improved to 14-2 in the Scenic West Athletic Conference and 24-2 overall. NIC will pursue the SWAC title on the road next week against Utah Valley and Salt Lake, the No. 2 and No. 3 teams in the league. NIC will host the regional tourney because the Cardinals men secured those rights by defeating Ricks.

Numerous Cards had a hand in the win. Sophomore Jana Nearing had 14 points, eight in the last 7 minutes as the Cards expanded on a 58-57 lead. Mandy Jacques scored 17 points. Angie Dickson buried 4 of 4 3-pointers and finished with 14 points. Jaime Richards had eight assists.

Add in Tammy Goyne’s defense and the Cardinals outlasted a Ricks club that rallied from nine points down in the first half and 10 in the second.

“We couldn’t put them away,” Crimp said.

The reason: Ricks knocked down 10 3-pointers, Kaly Gillette had three 3s and 17 points and the Vikings hurt NIC on the boards, 37-32.

But Goyne forced several critical turnovers in the final 8 minutes. Her biggest play was drawing an offensive foul on Tara Pike with 4.9 seconds left as Ricks was preparing to attempt a game-tying 3-pointer.

“I had to do something on defense because my offense wasn’t working,” said Goyne, a cat-quick freshman from Australia. Goyne earlier this season said she might not return to NIC for her sophomore year, but is reconsidering.

Cards’ center Shawna Rainer compensated for a poor shooting night with nine free throws, many of which came during crunch time.

“That was a good game,” Ricks coach Trent Shippen said. “Their kids play hard.”

North Idaho 75, Ricks 70

Ricks (17-9, 11-5) - Shumway 0-1 0-0 0, Anderson 1-2 0-0 2, Pike 3-13 0-2 8, Freeze 3-9 0-0 9, Gillette 6-12 2-4 17, Gneiting 1-2 0-0 2, Jones 1-4 0-0 3, Goodell 5-7 0-0 11, Williams 4-10 5-5 13, Youngstrom 1-2 3-3 5. Totals 25-62 10-14 70.

North Idaho (24-2, 14-2) - Goyne 1-4 1-3 3, Jacques 6-11 3-4 17, Richards 2-5 0-1 4, Dickson 5-7 0-0 14, Viebrock 0-1 0-0 0, Albers 0-0 0-0 0, Nearing 6-8 2-3 14, Rainer 3-13 9-13 15, Shepard 1-2 2-4 4, Jensen 0-1 0-0 0, Dowhy 2-6 0-0 4. Totals 26-58 17-28 75.

Half - NIC 36, Ricks 34. 3-point goals - Ricks 10-19 (Pike 2-5, Freeze 3-8, Gillette 3-4, Jones 1-1, Goodell 1-1), NIC 6-9 (Dickson 4-4, Jacques 2-3, Goyne 0-2). Total fouls - Ricks 28, NIC 14. Fouled out - Pike, Youngstrom. Technical fouls - none. Rebounds - Ricks 37 (Anderson, Goodell each 6), NIC 32 (Rainer 8). Assists - Ricks 18 (Gillette 6), NIC 24 (Richards 8). Attendance - 700.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo