NIC BASKETBALL ROUNDUP: Cardinals' 'Princess' dances all over Colo. Northwestern
* WOMEN
RANGELY, Colo. - Sophomore Panisesi "Princess" Taimani couldn't be stopped on Thursday night.
Taimani had 27 points on 12-of-15 shooting from the field, also hitting her only 3-point field goal of the night as the North Idaho College Cardinals beat the Colorado Northwestern Spartans 80-64 in a Scenic West Athletic Conference game.
"They just didn't have an answer for Princess," NIC coach Chris Carlson said. "She was inspired tonight. She didn't have her best game of the year against CSI (last Saturday), and wanted to get back on track. And that's what we're about right now and how do we respond after a bad game."
Monica Landdeck scored 17 points, Sabrina Earle 12 points off the bench for NIC (8-3, 1-1 SWAC), which outscored Colorado Northwestern (6-10, 0-3) 48-35 in the second half.
"Monica had a huge game," Carlson said. "She had a huge contribution and Kara (Staggs) got into some foul trouble. With Sabrina, we've been asking kids to step up over the last month, and she had a great game and it was the best I've seen her play."
NIC travels to Utah State-Eastern on Saturday.
In other SWAC play, Snow (12-0, 3-0) beat Salt Lake (11-3, 2-1) 75-67 in Ephraim, Utah, and Utah State-Eastern (11-13, 1-2) upset visiting and 19th-ranked Southern Idaho (9-5, 1-1) 83-78 in Price, Utah.
NORTH IDAHO
Katie King 1-4 0-0 2, Bailey Schroeder 2-5 0-0 4, Kara Staggs 3-9 1-3 8, Mariah Swanson 2-8 1-2 5, Panisesi Taimani 12-15 2-4 26, Maci Benedict 2-4 0-0 4, Ryleigh Swagerty 0-1 0-0 0, Monica Landdeck 5-13 2-2 17, Sabrina Earle 4-5 3-3 12, Caitlyn Behymer 0-4 0-0 0, Grace Varcoe 0-2 2-2 2. Totals 31-70 11-16 80.
COLORADO NORTHWESTERN
Jacey Schlegel 1-3 2-2 4, Jamie Revels 4-13 7-8 15, Sarah Midgley 3-14 2-2 9, Tyra Rodriguez 1-6 0-0 2, Brittany Babineaux 4-8 2-2 12, Jaylen Cox 6-16 6-8 18, Kellsie Edgington 1-2 0-0 2, Adriana Trost 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 21-63 19-22 64.
Halftime - NIC 32-29. 3-point goals - NIC 8-24 (King 0-3, Schroeder 0-2, Staggs 1-4, Benedict 0-1, Swagerty 0-1, Landdeck 5-9, Earle 1-1, Behymer 0-2, Taimani 1-1), CNCC 3-12 (Midgley 1-7, Babineaux 2-4, Cox 0-1). Rebounds - NIC 48 (Schroeder 8), CNCC 38 (Revels 9). Assists - NIC 17 (Staggs 5), CNCC 4 (Schlegel, Midgley, Rodriguez, Cox 1). Team fouls - NIC 18, CNCC 13. Fouled out - none.
North Idaho 81
Colo. N'western 66
RANGELY, Colo. - The Cardinals took a 53-21 lead in the first half, cruising on its way to winning its first Scenic West Athletic Conference this season.
Jamaal Robateau scored 24 points off the bench to pace the Cardinals (13-2, 1-1). Jordan King added 16 points, while D'Adrian Allen had eight rebounds.
"We played really well," NIC coach Corey Symons said. "We came out hot and played hard and we had a 32-point lead at halftime. We came out of the gates playing hard and rebounded and we played hard; we're happy with them."
Colorado Northwestern is 6-11, 0-3.
NIC plays at USU-Eastern (9-6, 0-3) on Saturday. USU-Eastern lost 85-84 to third-ranked Southern Idaho (15-0, 2-0) on Thursday.
NORTH IDAHO
Djuan Piper 1-3 0-0 2, Braian Angola-Rodas 2-5, 0-0 5, Fuquan Niles 4-8 0-1 8, Jordan King 6-17 1-1 16, Kyle Guice 0-1 0-0 0, Jamaal Robateau 7-14, 7-7 24, Lucas Antunez 1-3 1-2 3, Marcus Harris 3-5 0-0 9, D'Adrian Allen 0-3 2-4 2, Charlie Lockwood 1-5 0-0 2, Ty Higbie 4-5 0-0 10. Totals 29-69 11-15 81.
COLORADO NORTHWESTERN
Van Merbin 5-10 1-3 13, A'donte Turner 2-8 0-0 4, RayJon Craig 1-3 1-2 3, Terrylee Wedgeworth 6-14 2-2 18, Tim Dal Bon 2-8 2-2 8, Stephen Claassen 0-3 1-3 1, Marquel Murphy 0-3 4-6 4, Trenton Brown 0-1 0-0 0, Brandon Doss 0-0 0-0 0, Alex Therrien 3-4 0-0 9, Osahon Eghosa 0-2 6-12 6.
Halftime - NIC 53-21. 3-point goals - NIC 12-29 (Piper 0-1, Angola-Rodas 1-1, King 3-9, Guice 0-1, Robateau 3-10, Antunez 0-1, Harris 3-3, Higbie 2-3), CNCC 11-27 (Merbin 2-4, Turner 0-2, Craig 0-1, Wedgeworth 4-9, Dal Bon 2-5, Claassen 0-1, Murphy 0-2, Therrien 3-3). Rebounds - NIC 45 (Allen 8). CNCC 41 (Eghosa 6). Assists - NIC 19 (Antunez 8), CNCC 14 (Wedgeworth, Dal Bon 4). Team fouls - NIC 25, CNCC 17. Fouled out - Lockwood, Craig.