Nic Closes In On Tourney Berth

It wasn’t exactly a must-win situation for the North Idaho College women’s basketball team Saturday in it’s Scenic West Athletic Conference game against the College of Southern Idaho.

But it certainly was a “big” game according to NIC coach Greg Crimp.

The Cardinals (8-8, 17-11), took a huge step in locking up a postseason tournament berth by knocking off CSI 58-45 at NIC’s Christianson Gym.

The win gives the Cardinals a two-game advantage over CSI and Colorado Northwestern with two games to play. The top eight teams in SWAC play qualify for the post season.

“If we didn’t win tonight, it probably would have come down to the last game of the season against Colorado at Colorado,” Crimp said. “This was big. It makes it easier for us.”

It didn’t come easy at first. The Cardinals shot just less than 25 percent for the first half and were outrebounded 26-14 but trailed just 29-26 at halftime thanks to 18 CSI turnovers.

But NIC’s defense put the clamps on the Golden Eagles, holding them to just 16 points and just two field goals.

“We couldn’t play much worse offensively than we did in the first half,” Crimp said. “We had some breakdowns in what we were doing. I thought we played much better defensively in the second half.”

Anna Getz led the Cardinals with 23 points and Heather Cox chipped in 10.

CSI (6-10, 14-14), which shot just 12 percent in the second half, got 15 points from Sara Cellan and 10 from Kim Wegner.

NIC 58, Southern Idaho 45

Southern Idaho - Gosschalk 2-8 2-2 6, Cellan 7-22 0-0 15, Dickman 0-0 1-2 1, Wegner 3-6 4-6 10, Yost 0-0 0-0 0, Phillips 0-0 0-0 0, Lucas 0-1 0-0 0, McGrath 0-2 1-2 1, Whittaker 0-1 1-2 1, Gardiner 0-0 0-0 0, Empey 2-3 7-12 11. Totals 14-43 16-26 45.

North Idaho - Derting , An. Lewis 2-5 2-2 6, Am. Lewis 1-7 0-1 3, Cottrell 0-3 0-0 0, Broxton 3-6 0-1 7, Hudgens 0-2 0-0 0, Getz 8-14 3-4 23, Edlund 0-0 0-0 0, Schwenk 0-0 0-0 0, Edwards 0-0 0-1 0, Torpey 3-5 3-4 9, Cox 2-15 6-8 10. Totals 19-57 14-21 58.

Halftime - Southern Idaho 29, North Idaho 26. 3-point goals - Southern Idaho 1-10 (Cellan 1-6, Gosschalk 0-1, Lucas 0-1, McGrath 0-1, Whittaker 0-1), North Idaho 6-17 (Getz 4-6, Broxton 1-1, Am. Lewis 1-6, An. Lewis 0-1, Cottrell 0-1, Cox 0-2). Fouled out - Cottrell. Rebounds - Southern Idaho 36 (Wegner 8), North Idaho 31 (Cox 11). Assists - Southern Idaho 8 (Gosschalk, Dickman, Phillips 2), North Idaho 12 (Am. Lewis, Getz 4). Total fouls - Southern Idaho 20, North Idaho 20. Technicals - None. A - 300.