NIC women No. 5 seed to nationals, open Wednesday

The Region 18 tournament champion North Idaho Cardinals (28-3) have been seeded fifth to next week's 16-team NJCAA women's basketball tournament in Salina, Kan., and open Wednesday at 10 a.m. PST vs. 12th-seeded Georgia Perimeter (28-5) of Decatur, Ga., at the Bicentennial Center.

NIC won its third straight Region 18 title last Saturday with a 69-59 win over Salt Lake in Twin Falls, qualifying the Cardinals for the national tournament for the third consecutive year. NIC has won 17 of its last 18 games.

They finished in ninth place in 2009 and took eighth last year.

Georgia Perimeter has qualified for the national tournament five of the last seven years (2005-08, and this year) and enter on a 17-game win streak.

NIC has played two teams this season in this year’s field, defeating Casper College 68-56 on Nov. 19 and Central Arizona 80-73 on Jan. 3. NIC lost to Copiah-Lincoln of Wesson, Miss., in last year’s consolation championship game.

The tournament begins Tuesday and runs through next Saturday. Brackets are at www.njcaa.org. All matchups will be webcast live at either www.njcaa.org/tv or www.psblive.com.

NJCAA TOURNAMENT

Times PST

Opening round

Tuesday

Game 1 — No. 3 Trinity Valley Community College (31-2) vs. John A. Logan College, 8 a.m.

Game 2 — No. 6 Grayson County College (27-3) vs. No. 11 Casper College (24-9), 10 a.m.

Game 3 — No. 7 Cloud County Community College (25-7) vs. No. 10 Northern Oklahoma-Enid (28-5), 4:15 p.m.

Game 4 — No. 2 Vincennes University (27-2) vs. No. 15 Wallace State Community College, noon.

Game 5 — No. 1 Pensacola Junior College (33-0) vs. No. 16 Malcolm X College (22-8), 2 p.m.

Game 6 — No. 8 Central Arizona College (27-4) vs. No. 9 Copiah-Lincoln Community College (25-2), 6:15 p.m.

Wednesday

Game 7 — No. 5 North Idaho College (28-3) vs. No. 12 Georgia Perimeter (28-5), 10 a.m.

Game 8 — No. 4 State Fair Community College (28-4) vs. No. 13 Chattanooga State Community College (22-6), noon