Nic Takes Another Loss By Another Big Margin

Women’s college basketball

The losses are eating up Greg Crimp. The blowout nature of them is even harder on North Idaho College’s women’s basketball coach.

NIC was crushed for the third straight game, this one a shield-your-eyes ugly, 60-36 loss to Dixie before a sparse crowd Thursday at Christianson Gym in Coeur d’Alene. The setback comes on the heels of 33- and 27-point losses.

“It’s definitely difficult to keep our heads up, but I thought we played hard,” said Crimp, whose Cardinals dropped to 13-8 overall, 4-8 in the Scenic West Athletic Conference. “It’s hard to generate any confidence at this point.”

And even harder to score points. The Cardinals had just 13 points in the first half on 5-of-27 shooting. The starting five was 2 of 20 - and one of the makes was an unsightly 3-point bank shot. NIC had a scoreless streak of nearly 9 minutes midway through the first half.

Somehow, the Cardinals survived the dry spell as Amy Lemon made a 3-pointer to cut Dixie’s lead to 14-8. Another Lemon 3 made it 17-13 with 5:45 remaining.

But NIC didn’t score another point as Dixie assumed a 26-13 halftime edge.

“Embarrassing?” Crimp said, repeating a question. “I don’t think that as much as frustrating.”

The Cardinals warmed slightly to shoot 31 percent in the second half, but mounted no threat to the Rebels (20-4, 10-2). Dixie led 48-21 with 8 minutes remaining.

It didn’t matter if NIC was open or not, close to the bucket or firing from the 3-point line. Rarely did the Cardinals disturb the net.

“We couldn’t shoot it in the ocean,” Crimp said. “The effort at the defensive end was good enough to give us a chance. I didn’t think our shot selection was a major factor.”

NIC has lost five inside players this season to a variety of causes. For that reason, the Cardinals were much shorter than Dixie and they paid on the boards 48-25.

“I thought we did a pretty good job helping out on the post, but you’re going to give up something when you do that,” Crimp said. “Their inside-outside game hurt us.”

NIC’s top two scorers, Mandy Lindhe and Becki Huddle, combined for just four points, 21 below their usual output. Jodi Fisher was the only Cardinal in double figures with 10.

Norht Idaho will play host to Snow at 5:30 p.m. Saturday.

Dixie 60, North Idaho 36

Dixie (20-4, 10-2) - Heaton 1-4 4-4 6, McGee 4-7 1-2 12, Jones 3-5 0-1 9, Henderson 2-7 3-4 7, Romney 2-6 3-5 7, Griffiths 0-0 1-2 1, Roberson 0-3 0-0 0, Bunnell 4-8 2-2 13, Hall 1-1 0-0 2, Glover 1-1 0-0 3, Fawson 0-1 0-2 0, Dietrich 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 18-44 14-22 60.

North Idaho (13-8, 4-8) - Huddle 2-9 0-1 4, Lindhe 0-5 0-0 0, Fisher 4-11 2-4 10, Ryan 1-7 0-0 3, Shaw 2-7 0-0 5, Middlesworth 0-3 0-0 0, Lemon 2-4 0-0 6, Cottrell 0-0 0-0 0, Broxton 2-5 0-0 4, Meece 1-5 0-0 2, Hudgens 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 15-59 2-5 36.

Halftime - Dixie 26, North Idaho 13. 3-point goals - Dixie 10-17 (McGee 3-4, Jones 3-5, Bunnell 3-5, Glover 1-1, Henderson 0-2), North Idaho 4-22 (Lemon 2-3, Shaw 1-3, Ryan 1-7, Huddle 0-1, Fisher 0-1, Hudgens 0-1, Middlesworth 0-3, Meece 0-3). Fouled out - None. Rebounds - Dixie 48 (Heaton, Romney 7), North Idaho 25 (Fisher 8). Assists - Dixie 9 (McGee, Glover 2), North Idaho 10 (Middlesworth 4). Total fouls - Dixie 10, North Idaho 19. Technicals - None. A - NA.

Arizona St. 80, Washington St. 66

Rachel Holt scored 19 points in leading the Sun Devils to an 80-66 victory over the Cougars in Tempe, Ariz.

Theresa Jantzen added 16 points and Kristine Sand provided 14 as Arizona State (9-10, 3-7 Pac10) quelled Washington State’s second-half rally. Jennifer Kerns led Washington State (9-10, 3-7) with 19 points.