Area roundup: Walla Walla men hand NIC first loss in NWAC

Gabe Porter buried seven 3-pointers on his way to a team-high 32 points and the visiting Walla Walla Warriors outdueled the North Idaho Cardinals in a battle for first place of the East Division of the Northwest Athletic Conference on Wednesday.

Dalton Thompson added 26 points and eight rebounds for the Warriors (13-4, 4-1).

North Idaho’s Sam Dowd led all scorers with 33 points, but he made just 12 of 29 shots from the floor. Dowd added eight assists, five rebounds and two steals.

Walla Walla, which trailed 49-48 at halftime, pulled out the victory by hitting 61.5 percent of its 3-pointers in the second half – knocking down 8 of 13 attempts.

Markus Golder finished with a double-double – 17 points, 10 rebounds – for NIC, while Zaequan Satterthwaite chipped in with 18 points and nine boards.

Cierra Jo McKeown nailed 12 of 19 shots from the floor, including 4 of 8 from 3-point range, and scored a game-high 28 points as the visiting Walla Walla Warriors women (11-3, 4-1) rolled to a 69-58 victory over the North Idaho Cardinals in NWAC play.

Lana Berg had a double-double in the losing effort – scoring 18 with 10 rebounds. Cierra Dvorak added 19 points and eight boards for the Cardinals (8-7, 1-3).

Junior hockey

The Spokane Chiefs had five players ranked in the recently released NHL Central Souting midterm.

Team-leading scorer Kailer Yamamoto was ranked 17th among North American skaters to pace the Chiefs. He is currently tied for eighth in the Western Hockey Lague with 59 points, including 28 goals. The forward will compete for Team Orr at the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game in Quebec City on Jan. 30.

Forward Jaret Anderson-Dolan is ranked 40th. The second-year Chief has already posted career highs in all offensive categories and has 43 points through 45 games, including a team-leading eight power-play goals.

Second-year forward Ethan McIndoe and rookie Jake McGrew, along with goalie Dawson Weatherill were also ranked.