NIC women win opener at tourney

| December 29, 2014 8:00 PM

LONGVIEW, Wash. - Samara Hill scored 15 points off the bench and Mariah Swanson produced a double-double, lifting the North Idaho College women's basketball team to a 67-49 victory over Whatcom Community College of Bellingham, Wash., on Sunday in the first round of the Lower Columbia Holiday Classic.

NIC (9-4) will play Centralia (10-1), a 79-55 winner over Blue Mountain, in the semifinals today at 4.

Hill hit 4 of 6 from the field, including 3 of 5 3-pointers, for the Cardinals.

"She gave us a great boost off the bench," NIC coach Chris Carlson said. "She's been shooting the ball really well, and it was nice to see her keep doing that in this game."

Swanson added 11 points and 17 rebounds for NIC.

"She took three charges, too," Carlson said. "You've got a kid coming off ACL surgery, and she's rotating and taking hits. And 17 rebounds is pretty awesome."

Kara Staggs added 14 points for NIC, which saw Whatcom pull within three points with 9 minutes to play, before the Cardinals held the Orcas scoreless for a handful of possessions and opened its lead back up again.

Panisesi Taimani had 10 points and eight rebounds for the Cards.

WHATCOM

Korrinna Camacho 0-1 0-0 0, Madison Hinrichs 2-4 0-0 4, Gabrielle Hossak 0-2 0-0 0, Cheyanna Maxwell 0-1 0-0 0, Nikki Gilbert 4-10 2-2 10, Kortney Grattic 7-21 8-10 23, Makaliah Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Katie Tietje 0-0 0-0 0, Mikayla Brown 2-7 1-2 5, Kayla Tiemersma 2-5 3-6 7. Totals 17-50 14-21 49.

NORTH IDAHO

Samara Hill 4-6 4-4 15, Katie King 0-1 0-0 0, Maci Benedict 1-4 3-3 5, Bailey Schroeder 0-0 3-4 3, Ryleigh Swagerty 0-3 0-0 0, Kara Staggs 5-13 2-3 14, Monica Landdeck 2-7 2-2 8, Sabrina Earle 0-2 1-2 1, Mariah Swanson 5-16 1-2 17, Panisesi Taimani 5-13 0-0 10. Totals 22-66 16-20 67.

Halftime - NIC 34-27. 3-point goals - WCC 1-7 (Gilbert 0-1, Grattic 1-4, Brown 0-1, Tiemersma 0-1), NIC 7-23 (Hill 3-5, King 0-1, Benedict 0-2, Swagerty 0-2, Staggs 2-7, Landdeck 2-5, Swanson 0-1). Rebounds - WCC 38 (Hossak 6), NIC 45 (Swanson 17). Assists - WCC 9 (Brown 3), NIC 9 (King 5). Fouled out - none. Total fouls - WCC 17, NIC 18.