NIC's 2nd trip through SWAC starts tonight

COEUR d'ALENE - The men's and women's Scenic West Athletic Conference race enters the second lap starting tonight at Rolly Williams Court.

The 17th-ranked North Idaho Cardinal women will host the 11th-ranked Salt Lake Bruins in a Scenic West Athletic Conference showdown tonight at 5:30. The 17th-ranked NIC men and the 13th-ranked Bruins square off at 7:30.

Salt Lake 6-foot-4 sophomore Alfonzo Hubbard is ranked seventh in the SWAC in scoring with 15.5 points per game and fifth in rebounds at 6.6 per game.

The Salt Lake men lead the conference in defense, allowing 66.6 points per game.

NIC rolled past Eastern Utah 87-52 and Colorado Northwestern 81-62 to snap a three-game conference slide to start the season.

"I think we realized what our effort needs to be," NIC men's coach Jared Phay said. "We know how hard we need to play defensively. Unfortunately for us, Salt Lake is playing a little bit better than us on defense right now. If we can get both these games, we're back in the hunt."

Salt Lake defeated NIC 73-59 in their first matchup of the season on Dec. 11 in Salt Lake.

Salt Lake also brings Division I transfers Patrick McCollum (6-2) of San Diego and Marquise Horne (6-6) of Ohio University into tonight's game.

"Patrick's from the Tacoma area, so some of our guys know him," Phay said. "He's a real talented guard. Marquise just got eligible after transferring in at the semester."

NIC also welcomes Snow (14-6, 3-2) to Rolly Williams Court on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. and 6-5 UNLV transfer DeShawn Mitchell.

"They've probably got the best player in the league," Phay said. "DeShawn's a really good player and those other guys around him fill in their roles well. It's kind of scary if they get up on you. It's hard to make a run on them, because he'll get his points too."

Mitchell is averaging a conference-leading 24.2 points per game and is seventh in rebounding at 6.0 per game.

NIC sophomore point guard Michael Hale is second in the SWAC in scoring at 17.1 points per game and third in assists with 4.1 per game. 7-1 freshman post Anthony DiLoreto leads the conference in blocked shots with 1.2 a game.

On the women’s side, North Idaho College will have to keep an eye on Salt Lake sophomore guard Haley Holmstead, who is averaging 26.2 points per game, which puts her second in the NJCAA in scoring and leads the conference in free-throw shooting with an .844 percentage, hitting 119 of 141 attempts.

“She’s been a tough one to slow down,” NIC women’s coach Chris Carlson said. “She’s got some strong moves going either direction, a pull up jump shot and can get to the foul line. She’s a very well-rounded player.”

Salt Lake sophomore post Jami Mokofisi leads the conference in rebounding with 9.9 per game.

“She’s real strong on the block and on the boards,” Carlson said. “That’s where she gets it done. She posts up and they get the ball into her. She’s just a very strong kid.”

Sophomore Kama Griffitts is third in the conference with 16.2 points per game and Tugce Canitez is fifth with 15.5 per game for NIC. Canitez is third in rebounding at 9.1 per game.

NIC is tied with Midland College for the top free-throw percentage in the nation at 74 percent. Salt Lake is sixth at 71 percent.

NIC will face Snow College (13-5, 3-2 SWAC) on Saturday night. Salt Lake currently leads the league with a 4-1 record, followed by a three-way tie between NIC, Southern Idaho and Snow. Eastern Utah (2-3) and Colorado Northwestern (0-5) sit at the bottom of the conference.

“They played Salt Lake pretty tough when they played a few weeks ago,” Carlson said. “Looking at the play-by-play, it was a one point game with six minutes to go. They are a well-rounded team, can shoot the ball from the outside and have been playing some good basketball.”

Snow defeated NIC 79-76 in their season- opening conference game on Dec. 10 and is led by freshman 5-foot-9 guard Erica Martinez, who is averaging 17.8 points per game and Alle Finch, a 5-11 sophomore, who is fourth in the conference in scoring at 16 points per game and leads in assists with 4.4 a game.

“They’re a fairly young team,” Carlson said. “They were able to bring in some players that have been able to compete real well in our league. We’re looking forward to this weekend. SWAC play against Snow and Salt Lake is about as good as it gets for junior college basketball.”