REGION 18 TOURNAMENTS: Snow men earn date with Cardinals

COEUR d’ALENE — The element of surprise comes up in almost any conference tournament.

It nearly happened again on the first day of the Region 18 men’s basketball tournament at North Idaho College on Thursday.

Tied at 36 at halftime, the No. 3 seed Snow College Badgers held on late to beat the No. 6 seeded Colorado Northwestern Spartans 78-73 to advance to today’s semifinal round.

Later, Jordi Wilden had 21 points and 13 rebounds to lead the No. 5 Snow women past the No. 4 seed Utah State-Eastern Golden Eagles 62-49 to advance and face top-seeded Southern Idaho (19-11) today at 5:30 p.m.

• MEN

Snow 78, Colorado Northwestern 73: Sophomore guard Nick Gruninger made two free throws with 10 seconds remaining to seal the win for the Badgers (21-9), who face No. 2 seed North Idaho College (25-4) in the semifinals today at 2 p.m.

Thomas Powers scored 16 points for Colorado Northwestern, which finishes 7-24.

Southern Idaho 72, Utah State-Eastern 51: Juwan Newman scored 24 points for Southern Idaho (20-11), which faces top-seeded Salt Lake (26-3) tonight at 7:30 in the semifinals.

CSI won despite playing without two players, who were suspended after a violation of team rules on Feb. 24, according to a report in the Times-News of Twin Falls.

Jeff Perkins scored 16 points for Utah State-Eastern, which finishes 13-17.

• WOMEN

Salt Lake 79, Colorado Northwestern 41: Rachel Morris and Summer Yack scored 14 points apiece for the Bruins (19-10), who rolled to a win against the Spartans (14-17) in the opening game of the tournament.

Salt Lake plays No. 2 seeded NIC (27-3) today at noon in a semifinal game.

Snow 62, Utah State-Eastern 49: Amber Daly added 13 points for the Badgers, who won the Region 18 women’s tournament last season at Salt Lake City.

Hailee Parry scored 12 points for Utah State-Eastern, which finishes 15-14.

Snow will face top-seeded Southern Idaho (19-11) today in the semifinals at 5:30 p.m.