THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: Wednesday, December 16, 2015
So you’d think that because one team is leaving the Scenic West Athletic Conference, that they’d be out to prove a point on the way out the door.
Saturday’s women’s basketball team between North Idaho College and College of Southern Idaho did all that — and a little more — in one of the final matchups as conference rivals.
IT TOOK two overtimes to determine a winner, as fourth-ranked CSI did enough to get a 87-83 win, remaining undefeated on the season at 13-0.
“That team could go either way right now,” said CSI women’s coach Randy Rogers of NIC. “Neither of us played that great tonight, and we couldn’t hit a free throw. I thought both teams competed really hard and I told (NIC coach) Chris (Carlson) after the game that either of us could beat Salt Lake.”
Salt Lake, also unbeaten at 15-0, is the No. 1 team in the NJCAA.
“Both of us are just as good, I believe,” Rogers said. “It’s going to be a battle this year in the conference, and I really like Snow College’s team as well. Chris has some good kids coming off the bench that are really good. You can watch them on video and what they do, but live, they’re pretty dang good.”
NIC has split with CSI in the last two games in Coeur d’Alene, with the Cardinals winning 90-59 on Jan. 17.
“This gym, it’s a special place,” Rogers said. “The atmosphere is really neat. We’re the only team that won a game on the road in conference this week, and that’s big for us. It’s heartbreaking for them, but Chris and (NIC assistant coach) Carey (Carlson), they do such a great job up here. I always feel lucky to get one up here.”
GAMES WERE played at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m., as opposed to the normal 3 and 5 on Saturdays during conference play in order to draw a bigger crowd, as well as for time purposes as the NIC wrestling team also held duals against Southwestern Oregon and Clackamas earlier on Saturday.
“It’s a little different,” Rogers said. “We had the bus trip yesterday (from Twin Falls) and had a really early morning shoot-around. We just hung out at the hotel today and I didn’t know how were going to come out. All night, it was just a battle and kids were hitting the floor all night. And it stayed that way the entire night on both sides. For a women’s basketball game, I would have rather been here than anywhere else.”
The team’s will meet again on Jan. 16 in Twin Falls and again for the final time in the regular season Feb. 6 in Coeur d’Alene.
“We’ve had so many great battles with CSI,” NIC coach Chris Carlson said. “It’s so much fun to play them. Look at the crowd we had. It was a beautiful thing. The good thing for us is that they’re the fourth-ranked team and we were right there with them. And we haven’t seen a team like them all year. I think we’re going to be deeper and stronger from this game. I’m proud of the girls. They competed super hard. It’s going to be a fun season. It’s going to be fun.”
Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JEPressSports.