NIC ROUNDUP: Cards capture Region 18 title
* WRESTLING
OREGON CITY, Ore. - In his first matches since finishing third at last year's NJCAA wrestling tournament, North Idaho College sophomore Ryan Zumwalt didn't let his team down.
Zumwalt won his second regional championship at 165 pounds for the Cardinals, who claimed the Region 18 tournament championship by 23 points at Clackamas Community College.
"After not wrestling all year, Ryan stepped up and did a great job," NIC coach Pat Whitcomb said. "He's been rehabbing from knee surgery (last summer) and we put him in there to see what would happen. It was a tough decision to sit Jake Mason because he's such a hard worker, but we thought Ryan gave us the best chance to win a national title. For Ryan to capture back-to-back regional titles was huge."
Sophomores Brock Banta (125 pounds), Michael Carreon (133) and Jeremy Golding (149), and freshman V.J. Guilio (197) also won regional titles for NIC, which won its first Region 18 championship since 2010 after Clackamas won the last two seasons.
“It’s nice after being away for two years to get it back,” said Whitcomb, who was also named Region 18 Coach of the Year. “It’s good to be able to bring it back to Coeur d’Alene.”
NIC qualified all 10 wrestlers to the NJCAA tournament Feb. 22-23 in Des Moines, Iowa. The Cardinals also had three second-place finishers and two third-place finishers.
“You can’t score points if you’re not there, but it was nice to not have any fourth-place finishers,” Whitcomb said. “We’d only lost two matches going into the finals and I think that sets up nice for two weeks for now. If we can wrestle like this then, I’ll be really happy.”
The top four wrestlers in each weight class advance to nationals.
TEAM SCORES — 1, North Idaho 136.5. 2, Clackamas 113.5. 3, Northwest 98. 4, Southwestern Oregon 95.5. 5, Western Wyoming 88.5. 6, Highline 82.
CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHES
125 — Brock Banta, NIC, d. Michael Nguyen, Southwestern Oregon, 15-12. 133 — Michael Carreon, NIC, d. C.J. Palmer, Clackamas, by forfeit. 141 — Zach Loveless, Northwest, d. Jarrett Morrill, NIC, 4-3. 149 — Jeremy Golding, NIC, d. Beau Roberts, Clackamas, 9-6. 157 — Zach Martin, Southwestern Oregon, d. Colton Thornton, Northwest, 4-2. 165 — Ryan Zumwalt, NIC, d. Diorian Coleman, Northwest, 3-2. 174 — Trent Noon, Clackamas, d. Kyle Sweedman, NIC, 3-1. 184 — Lucas Huyber, Highline, md. Caleb Rivera, NIC, 10-0. 197 — V.J. Guilio, NIC, md. Jacob Laden, Clackamas, 8-0. 285 — Jacob Mitchell, Clackamas, md. Mike Williams, Western Wyoming, 10-2.
THIRD-FOURTH PLACE
157 — Nico Moreno, NIC, d. Shawn Weisenburg, Highline, 9-4. 285 — Curtis Berger, NIC, p. Ben Tynan, Highline, 4:53.
• MEN’S BASKETBALL
North Idaho 88
Colorado Northwestern 60
COEUR d’ALENE — Mikey Hope scored 26 points on 9-of-10 shooting from the field and grabbed six rebounds as the ninth-ranked (NJCAA) Cardinals beat the visiting Spartans in a Scenic West Athletic Conference game at Rolly Williams Court — concluding an unbeaten seven-game homestand.
Keon Lewis had 12 points, seven assists and two steals and Jalil Abdul-Bassit scored 15 points for NIC (24-3, 11-1 SWAC), which travels to Snow on Thursday and Salt Lake next Saturday. NIC leads Salt Lake by one-half game in the SWAC.
Also on Saturday, 14th-ranked Salt Lake (22-3, 10-1) beat Snow (17-8, 5-6) 86-81 in Salt Lake City and Southern Idaho (19-8, 6-6) beat Utah State-Eastern (12-14, 3-9) in Twin Falls 78-48.
COLORADO NORTHWESTERN
Nathan Terrin 6-11 5-5 19, Ivan Sifuentes 4-7 0-0 9, Thiago Marcello 0-3 0-0 0, Jalen Hawkins 0-1 1-2 1, Thomas Powers 7-13 2-2 20, Khalid Smith 0-3 0-0 0, Taylor Yager 0-1 0-0 0, Damian Trost 1-2 3-5 5, Jaxon Knighton 1-3 4-4 6. Totals 19-44 15-18 60.
NORTH IDAHO
Jordan McCloud 4-5 3-5 11, Jalil Abdul-Bassit 6-10 0-0 15, Chris Sarbaugh 0-0 0-0 0, Drae Hildreth 1-3 0-0 3, Andrew Baracco 3-3 1-1 8, Keon Lewis 2-4 8-8 12, Michael Middlebrooks 2-3 0-0 4, Mikey Hope 9-10 4-9 26, Dalen Erickson 1-3 0-0 2, James Webb 0-3 2-2 2, Cole Luckett 1-4 0-0 3, Nathan Rathbun 0-2 0-0 0, Kaj Sherman 1-5 0-0 2. Totals 30-55 18-25 88.
Hafltime — NIC 45-25. 3-point goals — CNCC 7-18 (Terrin 2-5, Sifuentes 1-4, Marcello 0-1, Powers 4-7, Yager 0-1), NIC 10-18 (Abdul-Bassit 3-6, Hildreth 1-1, Baracco 1-1, Lewis 0-1, Hope 4-4, Erickson 0-1, Luckett 1-3, Sherman 0-1). Rebounds — CNCC 22 (Terrin 4), NIC 34 (Sherman, Hope 6). Assists — CNCC 7 (Marcello, Hawkins 2), NIC 12 (Lewis 7). Team fouls — CNCC 20, NIC 17. Fouled out — none.
• WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
North Idaho 55
Colorado Northwestern 43
COEUR d’ALENE — Hannah Love had 10 points and seven rebounds to lead the fifth-ranked Cardinals past the Spartans in a Scenic West Athletic Conference game at Rolly Williams Court.
“Our defense was rock solid,” NIC coach Chris Carlson said. “Colorado (Northwestern) is playing a good game of basketball. It was a grind. They’ve beat Salt Lake and CSI this year. They’re playing well.”
Tori Davenport of Post Falls hit back-to-back 3-pointers early in the second half to help NIC pull away.
“She helped us get a little bit of separation and opened it up a little bit,” Carlson said.
NIC (25-2, 10-2 SWAC), which remains tied for first place in the conference, travels to Snow on Thursday.
In other SWAC women’s play, 19th-ranked Southern Idaho (17-10, 10-2) beat Utah State-Eastern 70-58 in Twin Falls and Salt Lake (15-9, 6-5) beat Snow (9-16, 3-8) 56-48 in Salt Lake City.
COLORADO NORTHWESTERN
Jasmine Ransom 1-5 0-1 2, Desiree Anderson 4-14 3-6 12, Nyahak Bile 2-4 5-6 9, Kayla Bell 0-0 0-0 0, Michelle Blanton 2-6 0-0 4, Madison Peterson 0-2 2-2 2, Jasmine Thomas 0-3 4-5 4, Kehana Grayer 4-9 0-0 8, Kristena Wilson 0-1 0-0 0, Julie Harless 1-2 0-0 2, Attirah Munir 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-46 14-20 43.
NORTH IDAHO
Angela Woods 3-7 0-0 8, Katie Buskey 1-5 3-4 5, Kabri Emerson 1-4 4-4 6, Georgia Stirton 1-5 4-6 6, Hannah Love 4-4 2-3 10, Tori Davenport 3-7 2-2 8, Aimee Durbidge 1-6 2-2 4, Renae Mokrzycki 0-3 0-0 0, Mollie Kramer 1-2 0-0 2, Danika Johnson 3-4 0-0 6. Totals 18-47 15-19 55.
Halftime — unknown. 3-point goals — CNCC 1-11 (Ransom 0-1, Anderson 1-5, Thomas 0-2, Grayer 0-3), NIC 4-15 (Woods 2-6, Buskey 0-3, Emerson 0-1, Stirton 0-1, Davenport 2-2, Durbidge 0-1, Kramer 0-1). Rebounds — CNCC 21 (Bile 9), NIC 30 (Stirton 9). Assists — CNCC 6 (Ransom 3), NIC 10 (Love 3). Team fouls — CNCC 15, NIC 13. Fouled out — none.
• SOFTBALL
Salt Lake 7-13
North Idaho 0-2
ST. GEORGE, Utah — Susan Duke had four hits, including two doubles in the second game as the top-ranked Bruins swept a Scenic West Athletic Conference doubleheader against the Cardinals at the Canyons Complex.
In the first game, NIC got hits by Shelby Carter and Kylene Hatton, but did not have a baserunner past the fourth inning.
Salt Lake (14-3, 6-0 SWAC) took all four from NIC in the weekend series.
Kelsey LaVaute hit a two-run homer in the second game and former Coeur d’Alene standout Nikki Ragsdale had two hits for NIC (3-8, 0-4), which faces Southern Nevada next Friday and Saturday in Las Vegas.
FIRST GAME
North Idaho 000 000 0 — 0 2 6
Salt Lake 002 401 x — 7 6 1
Emily Perlich and Shelby Carter; MaCauley Flint and Lyndsey Healey. W — Flint. L — Perlich (1-4).
HITS: NIC — Carter, Hatton. SLCC — Anderson, Woodard 2, Williams, Healey, Tann.
SECOND GAME
North Idaho 000 20 — 2 6 5
Salt Lake 352 3x — 13 10 2
Laura Potts, Hunter Allen (2), Nikki Ragsdale (2), Allen (4) and Shelby Carter; Ashley Kay and Susan Duke. W — Kay. L — Schueler (0-1).
HITS: NIC — Tinoco, Ragsdale 2, Sawyer 2, LaVaute. SLCC — Williams 2, Duke 4, Palmer, Campos, Holt, Woodard. 2B — Duke 2, Palmer, Holt, Sawyer. HR — LaVaute.