Unbeaten Vikings steamroll NIC
SALINA, Kan. – It looked like North Idaho College had top-seeded and top-ranked Jefferson (Mo.) College right where they wanted them Thursday in the quarterfinals of the NJCAA Division I women’s basketball tournament.
It turns out Jefferson is 33-0 for a reason, however, and that reason is national player of the year Danielle Adams.
Adams scored a tournament-high 36 points and grabbed a team-high nine rebounds as the Vikings turned a one-point halftime deficit into a 78-50 blowout at the Bicentennial Center.
Jefferson scored 18 of the first 20 points to start the second half, and Adams scored 21 after halftime to put the Vikings into the national semifinals for the first time in school history.
“Adams is a terrific player … she was able to get some looks and man, can she drill ’em,” Cardinals coach Chris Carlson said. “We were hoping to keep it out of her hands as much as we could, but their transition game was so good it was hard to sort stuff out on the run.
“I was happy with our first half. We decided we could defend them, but we wanted to post their guards up a little more, and I really wish we would’ve got a couple baskets to go down early in the second half.”
Adams has a substantial 6-foot-1 frame and a jumper that’s accurate out to about 25 feet, but NIC center Kia Gibson matched Adams shot for shot in the first half. Gibson scored 15 of her team-high 19 before halftime, shooting 6 of 7 from the floor while showing Adams a few post moves she probably hasn’t seen in a while.
“Kia’s a terrific scorer,” Carlson said. “She’s top five of the nation in field-goal percentage and she’s led our league the last two years. She has terrific moves and she knows how to use the glass. Kia and Katie Sanders did a great job scoring in the first half down low.”
NIC took its first lead when Jefferson head coach Kevin Emerick was whistled for a technical foul 51/2 minutes into the game. Gibson swished both free throws and a 3-pointer on the subsequent series, and the Cardinals’ 5-11 sophomore eventually scored nine straight points to give NIC (26-8) a 13-7 lead.
Adams answered with seven in a row as NIC turned the ball over on three consecutive possessions.
But after a 13-4 run put the Vikings back on top, NIC scored nine of the last 11 to finish the first half with a 30-29 lead.
“I was happy with our first half,” Carlson said. “We decided we could defend them, and we knew they weren’t going to give us as many 3s as we had in our first game, so I wanted to post up their guards a little more than we did.”
Jefferson opened the second half with an 18-2 run, and the Vikings led 47-32 after Porsha Porter’s three-point play and Cherakie Barrett’s 3-pointer at the 15:15 mark.
Adams scored nine of the next 11 as the lead swelled to 24, and NIC came no closer than 19 the rest of the way despite a 9-2 run and a Marielle McKean three-point play with 5:35 remaining.
Lindsay Wimett scored six of her eight in the second half for NIC. Bianca Cheever finished with five points and a game-high 13 rebounds for the Cardinals.