Tough defense at home

COEUR d'ALENE - With the Scenic West Athletic Conference races beginning to tighten, both the North Idaho College men's and women's basketball teams got defensive at the right time on their home court.

North Idaho sophomore point guard Michael Hale scored 18 points and Utah State transfer Tyrone White had 17 points to lead the 17th-ranked Cardinals past the 13th-ranked Salt Lake Bruins 72-59 in a SWAC matchup at Rolly Williams Court on Thursday.

"Those two are our best scorers and can create their own shot," NIC men's coach Jared Phay said. "We needed them to hit some buckets for us and they did that tonight."

Earlier, NIC sophomore Kama Griffitts scored 12 of her game-high 22 points in the second half as the 17th-ranked Cardinals defeated 11th-ranked Salt Lake 70-64.

“She’s been leading us since Christmas,” NIC coach Chris Carlson said. “She’s really focused on playing to her potential right now.”

MEN: NIC (18-3, 3-3 SWAC) forced 14 turnovers to take a 38-28 halftime lead.

“I think the guys have bought into the level that we need to play this year,” Phay said. “We don’t have as many scoring threats as last year, so we need to play with more intensity on defense.”

Hale scored 11 of his team-high 18 points in the second half as the Cardinals pulled away.

“They kind of put a whooping on us down there,” Hale said of NIC’s 73-59 loss at Salt Lake on Dec. 11. “So we wanted to win this one pretty bad. We can’t lose games at home. It’s really hard to come in and beat us here.”

Alfonzo Hubbard scored 22 points for Salt Lake (18-3, 4-2).

“North Idaho played really well,” Salt Lake coach Norm Parrish said. “I thought they came out and controlled the game and played with more energy. They did a good job and took us out of some things early.”

University of San Diego transfer Patrick McCollum was limited to 2 of 15 from the field and 1 of 8 from the 3-point line.

“(DeAndre) Taylor had been sick all week and we didn’t expect him to play. It was a real gusty performance,” Phay said.

NIC will host Snow College (13-7, 3-3) on Saturday, which fell to first-place Southern Idaho (19-2, 5-1) on Thursday.

SALT LAKE

Marquis Home 0-2 0-2 0, Patrick McCollum 2-15 3-4 8, Jordan Bernardo 1-4 7-8 10, Jason Gamblin 3-9 1-2 7, Alfonzo Hubbard 9-11 3-4 22, Given Kalipinde 2-6 1-4 5, Tommy Barrett 1-1 0-0 2, Yi-Hsiang Chou 0-0 0-0 0, Charles Joseph 2-4 1-2 5. Totals 20-52 16-26 59.

NORTH IDAHO

DeAndre Taylor 1-9 0-2 2, Nate Clinton 1-1 0-0 2, Ameer Shamsud-din 3-8 0-0 7, Jake Owsley 1-3 0-0 2, Michael Hale 5-12 7-8 18, Idris Lasisi 1-4 0-0 2, Nick Fromm 3-5 0-0 6, Tyrone White 5-14 4-4 17, Petar Joksimovic 2-3 2-4 7, Anthony DiLoreto 3-5 3-3 9. Totals 25-64 16-21 72.

Halftime — NIC 38-28. 3-point goals — SLCC 3-13 (McCollum 1-8, Bernardo 1-2, Hubbard 1-1, Kalipinde 0-2). NIC 6-18 (Taylor 0-3, Shamsud-din 1-3, Hale 1-3, Lasisi 0-1, White 3-6, Joksimovic 1-2). Rebounds — SLCC 39 (Gamblin, Hubbard, Kalpinde, Chou 6). NIC 42 (DiLoreto, White, Lasisi 7). Assists — SLCC 6 (McCollum, Chou 2). NIC 11 (Hale 4). Team fouls — SLCC 19, NIC 18. Fouled out — none.

WOMEN: Sophomore Tugce Canitez, who played just over 5 minutes in the first half due to foul trouble, had 10 points and five rebounds for NIC (18-2, 4-2).

Haley Holmstead, leading the conference in scoring at 26.2 per game, finished with 20 points for Salt Lake (14-4, 4-2).

“I hate to lose, but this game was a fun game to be a part of,” Salt Lake coach Betsy Specketer said. “It was an entertaining game and a well-played game between the top two teams in the conference. NIC made plays down the stretch and we didn’t.”

Salt Lake was held to 8 of 19 shooting from the floor in the first half, while NIC was 15 of 30. The Bruins remained close at halftime as they hit 12 of 18 free-throws to trail 36-28 at the half.

“We did what we had to do to get the win,” Carlson said. “Tugce gave us a good second half after getting into foul trouble, but Kama stepped up and led us tonight.”

NIC and Salt Lake are tied for first place with Southern Idaho (17-4, 4-2), which defeated Snow College earlier Thursday in Twin Falls.

NIC hosts Snow College (13-6, 3-3) on Saturday at 3 p.m.

SALT LAKE

Katie Walker 1-1 1-3 3, Haley Holmstead 7-13 6-6 20, Marissa Robbins 2-3 0-1 4, Sofia Hepworth 1-5 4-4 6, Ame’ White 0-4 0-0 0, Megan Johnson 0-1 0-0 0, Alli Blake 6-10 4-7 16, Jami Mokofisi 3-9 9-12 15. Totals 20-46 24-33 64.

NORTH IDAHO

Kama Griffitts 7-16 6-6 22, Chantel Divilbiss 1-2 0-0 2, Camille Reynolds 3-7 3-4 10, Tugce Canitez 4-8 2-2 10, Amy Warbrick 1-4 1-2 4, Korina Baker 0-4 0-0 0, Kiki Edwards-Teasley 5-8 1-2 12, Julia Salmio 0-0 0-0 0, Amanda Carlton 3-4 0-0 6, Deanna Dotts 2-5 0-1 4. Totals 26-58 13-17 70.

Halftime — NIC 36-28. 3-point goals — SLCC — none attempted. NIC 5-13 (Griffitts 2-6, Reynolds 1-2, Warbrick 1-2, Baker 0-2, Edwards-Teasley 1-1). Rebounds — SLCC 36 (Mokofisi 8). NIC 30 (Dotts 7). Assists — SLCC 1 (Blake). NIC 10 (Divilbiss 3). Team fouls — SLCC 15, NIC 21. Fouled out — Walker.