Goyne Sparks Cardinals Women Past Csi, 65-62

With almost 7 minutes to play Thursday night and his team down by five points, North Idaho College women’s basketball coach Greg Crimp switched to a man-to-man defense.

Reserve guard Tammy Goyne liked the idea quite a bit and decided to thank Crimp by picking up 11 points and three steals down the stretch to lead the Cardinals to a 65-62 Scenic West Athletic Conference win over eighth-ranked College of Southern Idaho.

“It was a great move by Greg because they were starting to get off a lot of outside shots and the man defense allowed us to stop them,” said Goyne, who finished with a team-high 18 points.

Goyne provided a spark that must have felt like a bolt of lightning to the Golden Eagles, who seemed to be in control after Courtnie Stoor made two straight 3-pointers midway through the second half.

Despite the burst by North Idaho, CSI was never out of the game until Goyne made four straight free throws in the final 2 minutes.

“We knew coming in that it would be tough to win on the road, but Goyne broke us down and we knew she was a player that had to be contained,” CSI coach Joel Bate said.

Goyne’s play and a 15-point effort from Jana Nearing were important, but the key for North Idaho might have been the ability to weather a rebounding storm by CSI. The Cardinals were down only 29-28 at the half despite being outrebounded 28-14 by the physical Golden Eagles.

“We’ve been really concerned about rebounding all year, but we toughened up in the second half tonight,” Crimp said.

Nearing played one of her finest games of the year, collecting a teamhigh seven rebounds to go with 15 points while providing a stabilizing force in the middle.

Nearing’s effort helped offset the 12 rebounds by Lawanda Johnson of CSI. The Golden Eagles were led by 14 points from Charlotte Norman.

The win moved the Cardinals (4-1 league, 13-1 overall) into the driver’s seat in the SWAC ahead of CSI (3-1, 14-2). The Cards should also move back into the top 20 nationally.

“We gave it all we had tonight and played great, but we can’t let it go to our heads,” Goyne said.

NIC 65, CSI 62

College of Southern Idaho (3-1, 14-2) - Covington 3-9 2-3 9, Storr 3-6 0-0 9, Bartu 4-7 2-4 10, Norman 6-12 2-2 14, Layton 1-5 0-0 3, Murdock 1-2 0-1 2, Johnson 3-4 0-1 6, Barnes 4-11 1-3 9. Totals 25-56 7-14 62.

North Idaho College (4-1, 13-1) - Goyne 5-8 7-9 18, Jacques 6-13 0-1 13, Dickson 1-9 0-0 2, Richards 1-6 0-0 2, Viebrock 3-4 0-1 6, Nearing 7-12 1-5 15, Rainer 4-14 0-2 8, Dowhy 0-1 1-2 1. Totals 27-67 9-21 65.

Halftime score - CSI 29, NIC 28. 3-point goals - NIC 2-8 (Goyne 1-2, Dickson 0-5, Jacques 1-1.) CSI 5-15 (Covington 1-5, Stoor 3-6, Bart 0-1, Norman 0-1, Layton 1-2.) Total Fouls - NIC 17, CSI 24. Fouled out - Technical Fouls - none. Rebounds - NIC 31 (Nearing 7) CSI 45 (Johnson 12). Assists - NIC 19 (Dickson 7), CSI 21 (Covington 12).