NIC BASKETBALL: Norman helps Card women roll
• WOMEN
PRICE, Utah — Freshman Ebony Norman scored 14 points on 4-of-6 shooting from beyond the 3-point line, helping the North Idaho Cardinals beat the Utah State-Eastern Golden Eagles 82-59 in a Scenic West Athletic Conference game on Thursday night.
“Ebony came out and hit three 3-pointers in the first half, and was just on fire,” NIC coach Chris Carlson said. “It’s nice to go on a road trip like this with nine freshmen and get a SWAC win on the road.”
NIC (10-2, 1-1 SWAC) led 18-17 after the first quarter, then outscored the Golden Eagles (7-7, 0-3) 64-42 the rest of the way.
“We came out and just played good defense,” Carlson said. “We just played hard and outscored them.”
Maci Benedict and Jocelyn Cook-Cox scored 11 points each for NIC, which visits Colorado Northwestern (8-7, 0-3) on Saturday in Rangely, Colo.
In other SWAC play on Thursday, fourth-ranked College of Southern Idaho beat Colorado Northwestern 89-57 to improve to 14-0, 2-0.
NORTH IDAHO
Maci Benedict 4-8 1-1 11, Shelby Cloninger 4-16 1-2 9, Monica Landdeck 3-10 0-0 8, Ebony Norman 4-7 2-2 14, Stormee Van Belle 4-9 0-0 8, Gracie Roberts 3-6 0-0 6, Alyssa Case 2-6 0-0 6, Kaylee Olson 0-0 0-0 0, Jocelyn Cook-Cox 5-10 1-1 11, Clarissa Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Grace Varcoe 4-9 1-2 9, Charity Marlatt 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 33-81 6-8 82.
UTAH STATE-EASTERN
Maile Richardson 4-9 2-3 10, Clarissa Perez 1-4 0-0 3, Barbara Cousino Cont 4-16 0-0 12, Mateah Tuckett 5-11 0-0 12, Ana Borges 4-9 2-2 10, Bryndie Ballam 1-4 0-0 2, Mckenzie Burrows 0-0 0-0 0, Ayanna Ford 2-6 1-2 5, Ashley Price 0-2 0-0 0, Jada Clark 0-1 2-2 2, Ashlyn Coleman 1-5 0-0 3. Totals 22-67 7-9 59.
North Idaho 18 22 25 17 — 82
Ut-State Eastern 17 17 10 15 — 59
3-point goals — NIC 10-30 (Benedict 2-5, Cloninger 0-3, Landdeck 2-8, Norman 4-6, Van Belle 0-1, Roberts 0-2, Case 2-4, Cook-Cox 0-1), USUE 8-23 (Perez 1-2, Cousino Court 4-14, Tuckett 2-4, Ballam 0-1, Price 0-1, Coleman 1-1). Rebounds — NIC 45 (Van Belle 12), USUE 48 (Tuckett 13). Assists — NIC 17 (Benedict, Landdeck, Van Belle 3), USUE 16 (Perez 5). Total fouls — NIC 13, USUE 15. Fouled out — none.
• MEN
North Idaho 104
Utah State-Eastern 86
PRICE, Utah — BJ Blake had 28 points and 11 rebounds, leading the 13th-ranked Cardinals past the Golden Eagles in Scenic West Athletic Conference play.
NIC (14-0, 2-0 SWAC) shot 40 of 70 from the field, racing past the Golden Eagles (12-5, 0-3), who only played six players because of injuries and suspensions.
“The guys played really well,” NIC coach Corey Symons said. “But we’ve got to figure out how to guard some people and need to come out and play better defense. Going up and down the court, our defense got a little ratty. It’s a tough road trip, but good to come away with a win.”
Haywood Irwin scored 15 points and Trey Burch-Manning and Braian Angola-Rodas added 14 points each for NIC, which visits Colorado Northwestern on Saturday.
Brandon Sly scored 21 points for Utah State-Eastern.
In other SWAC play, Southern Idaho beat Colorado Northwestern 58-41 in Rangely, Colo.
NORTH IDAHO
Sam Dowd 2-4 0-0 5, Lucas Antunez 4-6 1-1 11, Haywood Irwin 7-13 0-1 15, Trey Burch-Manning 3-6 8-11 14, BJ Blake 12-17 4-6 28, Braian Angola-Rodas 5-10 4-6 14, Kaleb Warner 1-6 0-0 3, Kyle Guice 3-5 0-0 9, Zaequan Satterhwaite 2-2 0-0 4, Tony Naccarato 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 40-70 17-25 104.
UTAH STATE-EASTERN
Brandon Sly 5-13 6-8 21, Philip Winston 3-12 9-10 17, Tevin Farris 4-8 0-0 10, James Furlow 5-16 6-10 17, Alexander Morrell 7-12 7-8 21, Grant Belnap 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 24-63 28-36 86.
Halftime — NIC 50-42. 3-point goals — NIC 7-20 (Dowd 1-1, Antunez 2-3, Irwin 1-5, Angola-Rodas 0-2, Warner 1-5, Guice 2-4), USUE 10-23 (Sly 5-10, Winston 2-6, Farris 2-2, Furlow 1-4, Belnap 0-1). Rebounds — NIC 42 (Blake 11), USUE 36 (Furlow 11). Assists — NIC 21 (Antunez 11), USUE 17 (Winston 10). Team fouls — NIC 25, USUE 19. Fouled out — Warner, Farris.