Cardinals Conquer Frustrations To Win Second-Half Rally Helps Nic Women Advance In Region 18 Tournament

Tammy Goyne used the words “frustrating, very frustrating” to describe the opening 20 minutes of Thursday’s Region 18 women’s basketball tournament game against Dixie.

Over the final 20 minutes, Goyne and her North Idaho women’s basketball teammates showed the Rebels how it felt.

The Cardinals went to the full-court press in the second half at Ricks’ Hart Gymnasium, befuddling sixth-seeded Dixie just enough to turn a 34-24 halftime deficit into a 70-63 victory.

“We just decided to pull it up,” said Goyne, who led NIC (22-6) with 16 points and six assists. We got a few quick steals, and once you get those, that brings an adrenaline rush.

“That’s when we wanted it more than (Dixie) did,” she added. “We’re not ready to go home yet.”

Instead of being back in Coeur d’Alene, the third-seeded Cardinals will be in the 11 a.m. PST semifinal here Friday against Utah Valley (22-9), an 83-74 winner over Snow. In other openers, Ricks defeated Colorado Northwestern 100-72 and Southern Idaho topped Salt Lake 74-62.

North Idaho’s big push did not come quickly after halftime. Instead, the Cardinals whittled away at the Rebel lead before surging ahead on Barrie Jensen’s 3-pointer with 5:38 left.

Jensen’s basket ended a 10-minute period during which the Rebels never had more than a six-point advantage.

“We had to pick away a little bit,” NIC coach Greg Crimp said. “We got the stops when we needed to and we got the key baskets when we needed to.”

The Cardinals got that after trading leads with Dixie six times over the next 2:30. The Cardinals then started a 12-2 run with a Jensen 3-pointer with 3:02 left. The spurt ended with another Jensen 3-pointer, this one with 1:12 to go, giving NIC a 66-60 lead.

And it left Dixie coach David LaVetter exasperated.

“That was very frustrating,” LaVetter said. “We thought we had a good matchup coming in. We executed our game plan and we did play very well.

“But things just broke down in the second half.”

Helping force that was Goyne, who overcame a difficult first half that had her taking only two shots and scoring two points, to tally her game-high 16 points.

NIC sophomore Julie Grohs added 14 points. Jensen hit three of her four treys after the intermission to finish with 13 points, and sophomore Alisha Nater came off the bench for 11.

Pacing Dixie (21-9) was Brittany Booth, who accounted for 15 points and seven rebounds before fouling out.

North Idaho 70, Dixie 63

North Idaho (22-6) Goyne 5 4-5 16, Huddle 1 7-8 9, Grohs 6 1-3 14, Dowhy 3 1-2 7, Jensen 4 1-2 13, Nater 4 3-4 11. Totals 23 17-24 70. Dixie (21-9) Henderson 1 0-0 2, McGee 2 0-0 6, Brewer 4 1-2 11, Tyler 4 2-4 10, Booth 3 9-11 15, Bunnell 3 0-0 7, Holt 6 0-0 12. Totals 23 12-17 63.

Halftime Dixie 34, North Idaho 24. 3-point goals North Idaho 7-14 (Jensen 4-8, Goyne 2-3, Grohs 1-1, Huddle 0-1, Robison 0-1), Dixie 5-16 (McGee 2-5, Brewer 2-8, Bunnell 1-1, Henderson 0-2). Fouled out Dixie, Booth. Rebounds North Idaho 28 (Huddle 8), Dixie 31 (Holt 7, Booth 7). Assists North Idaho 13 (Goyne 6), Dixie 20 (Henderson 7). Total fouls North Idaho 18, Dixie 21. Technicals None.