NIC BASKETBALL: Cardinal women in 1st by themselves

| February 15, 2013 8:00 PM

* WOMEN

EPHRAIM, Utah - Kabri Emerson scored 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds as North Idaho College, ranked No. 4 in the NJCAA, beat Snow 60-44 in Scenic West Athletic Conference play Thursday night at the Horne Activity Center.

And, coupled with the College of Southern Idaho's loss at Salt Lake, NIC (26-2, 11-2 SWAC) moved ahead of CSI (17-11, 10-3) into sole possession of first place in the SWAC. NIC also clinched a first-round bye in the Region 18 tournament, which runs Feb. 28-March 2 at NIC.

Angela Woods made 3 of 6 3-pointers and added 10 points for NIC, and Aimee Durbidge grabbed 10 rebounds.

Snow (9-17, 3-9) shot 21 percent (13 of 62) from the field.

NIC plays at Salt Lake (16-9, 7-5) on Saturday.

NORTH IDAHO

Angela Woods 3-7 1-2 10, Katie Buskey 3-8 2-6 8, Tori Davenport 0-1 0-0 0, Kabri Emerson 6-6 0-0 13, Georgia Stirton 3-6 3-5 9, Aimee Durbidge 2-9 0-0 4, Renae Mokrzycki 2-5 0-2 4, Mollie Kramer 1-3 0-0 3, Danika Johnson 2-6 3-4 9. Totals 22-51 9-19 60.

Kiz Farrer 1-8 4-6 6, Becca Rees 2-10 0-0 5, Amber Daly 3-9 3-4 9, Tristin Bowers 1-7 0-2 3, Sydney Webb 2-4 0-0 4, Courtnie Duncan 0-8 2-2 2, Jordi Wilden 2-7 6-8 10, Kjirsten Nelson 0-0 0-0 0, Hailey Larsen 0-5 1-2 1, Kobe Farrer 0-1 0-0 0, Vika Havili 1-2 0-0 2, Emily Howey 1-1 0-0 2, Lyssa Hanks 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 13-62 16-24 44.

Halftime - NIC 29-20. 3-point goals - NIC 7-18 (Woods 3-6, Buskey 0-2, Emerson 1-1, Stirton 0-1, Durbidge 0-3, Kramer 1-2, Johnson 2-3), Snow 2-15 (Rees 1-4, Bowers 1-4, Duncan 0-3, Larsen 0-3, K. Farrer 0-1). Rebounds - NIC 36 (Durbidge 10), Snow 27 (K. Farrer, Bowers, Larsen 4 each). Assists - NIC 10 (Woods, Buskey, Stirton 3 each), Snow 5 (Rees 2). Total fouls - NIC 16, Snow 20. Fouled out - none.

North Idaho 78

Snow 56

EPHRAIM, Utah - Mikey Hope had his second straight high-scoring game, totaling 19 points to lead the 10th-ranked Cardinals (25-3, 12-1 SWAC) past the Badgers (17-9, 5-7).

Hope, a 6-foot sophomore point guard, scored 26 last Saturday in a win over Colorado Northwestern.

"I think he's figuring it out," NIC coach Jared Phay said, noting he's been on other teams where he's had to handle the bulk of the scoring. "He's finding that happy balance between what he wants to do and what we want him to do."

Keon Lewis had 15 points, Jalil Abdul-Bassit 14, and Michael Middlebrooks had 13 points and nine rebounds for NIC, which held Snow to 30 percent shooting (18 of 60) from the field.

Connor Van Brocklin led Snow with 19 points.

NIC can clinch the No. 1 seed to the Region 18 tournament with a win at at Salt Lake (23-3, 11-1) on Saturday.

NORTH IDAHO

Jordan McCloud 1-3 0-0 2, Jalil Abdul-Bassit 4-12 4-5 14, Chris Sarbaugh 1-4 0-0 2, Jason Wheelock 0-0 0-0 0, Keon Lewis 4-9 4-4 15, Michael Middlebrooks 6-9 1-1 13, Mikey Hope 5-10 7-7 19, Dalen Erickson 1-1 0-0 3, James Webb III 2-2 2-2 6, Cole Luckett 0-0 0-0 0, Nathan Rathbun 0-0 0-0 0, Kaj Sherman 2-5 0-0 4. Totals 26-55 18-19 78.

Nick Gruninger 1-5 0-1 2, Tim Hughes 0-0 0-0 0, Matt Pelo 0-0 0-1 0, Dallen Bird 0-0 0-0 0, Casey Taylor 1-5 0-0 3, Cheikh Sane 2-11 4-7 10, Haudrick Hilaire 0-3 0-0 0, Rhett Bird 0-3 2-2 2, Robert Baltruns 0-1 0-0 0, London Simonsen 3-8 3-4 11, Connor Van Brocklin 8-18 0-0 19, Brock Smith 2-5 4-4 9, Brad Mears 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 18-60 13-19 56.

Halftime - NIC 33-26. 3-point goals - NIC 8-16 (McCloud 0-1, Abdul-Bassit 2-5, Sarbaugh 0-2, Lewis 3-3, Hope 2-4, Erickson 1-1), Snow 7-24 (Gruninger 0-1, Taylor 1-4, Hilaire 0-2, R. Bird 0-1, Simonsen 2-4, Van Brocklin 3-10, Smith 1-2). Rebounds - NIC 34 (Middlebrooks 9), Snow 30 (Sane 10). Assists - NIC 10 (Sarbaugh 4), Snow 13 (Gruninger 5). Total fouls - NIC 18, Snow 15. Fouled out - none.