NIC BASKETBALL: Cardinal men wrap up SWAC title; NIC women roll
• MEN
RANGELY, Colo. — Eleven of the 12 players scored, and several bench players got big minutes as North Idaho College rolled to a 96-53 victory over Colorado Northwestern in Scenic West Athletic Conference play Thursday night.
NIC (27-0, 12-0 SWAC), ranked third in the NJCAA, clinched the No. 1 seed to the Region 18 tournament with the victory, and with second-place Salt Lake (22-6, 9-4) losing to Snow (15-13, 7-6) on Thursday night, the Cardinals also wrapped up the conference title.
“The guys came out and played hard from the start,” NIC coach Corey Symons said.
Scott Turner, the former Lake City High standout, had 14 points and six rebounds off the bench for the Cardinals. Braian Angola-Rodas scored 15 points in just over 15 minutes, and reserve Haywood Irwin added 11 points.
“Scott Turner played really well,” Symons said. “Haywood Irwin, Dylan Okoro ... it was nice to get a big lead and be able to go deep into our bench, and get them a lot of minutes.”
NIC hit 40 of 80 from the field, including 35 3-point shots, making 13 against a packed-in 2-3 zone of Colorado Northwestern (3-24, 0-13).
NIC travels to Price, Utah, on Saturday to play Utah State-Eastern (17-11, 4-9), which beat Southern Idaho (19-8, 7-5) 101-100 in double overtime on Thursday.
NORTH IDAHO
Lucas Antunez 3-6 0-0 8, BJ Blake 3-8 0-2 6, Braian Angola-Rodas 7-8 1-1 15, Kaleb Warner 4-8 0-0 11, Kyle Guice 4-10 0-0 12, Sam Dowd 2-6 0-0 6, Haywood Irwin 5-12 1-2 11, Trey Burch-Manning 4-8 0-0 8, Dylan Okoro 1-2 1-2 3, Ziggy Satterthwaite 0-0 0-0 0, Scott Turner 6-9 0-0 14, Tony Naccarato 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 40-80 3-7 96.
COLORADO NORTHWESTERN
Trey Puckett 0-1 3-4 3, Alex Therrien 2-9 4-4 9, Jonas Santana 4-11 0-1 8, Michael Cooper 3-9 0-0 8, Velerian Salumu 8-13 1-4 17, Cameron Coles 2-6 2-4 6, Owen Mellen 0-3 0-0 0, Chris Bel 1-4 0-0 2.
Halftime — NIC 48-23. 3-point goals — NIC 13-35 (Antunez 2-5, Blake 0-3, Angola-Rodas 0-1, Warner 3-5, Guice 4-8, Dowd 2-4, Irwin 0-4, Burch-Manning 0-1, Turner 2-3, Naccarato 0-1), CNCC 3-15 (Puckett 0-1, Therrien 1-4, Cooper 2-7, Salumu 0-1, Coles 0-2). Rebounds — NIC 49 (Antunez, Guice, Turner 6), CNCC 32 (Santana 9). Assists — NIC 9 (Antunez 3), CNCC 8 (Coles 7). Fouled out — none. Total fouls — NIC 17, CNCC 10. Technical foul — Naccarato.
• WOMEN
North Idaho 80
Colo. Northwestern 46
RANGELY, Colo. — Shelby Cloninger scored 16 points for the Cardinals in a Scenic West Athletic Conference win over the Spartans.
Stormee Van Belle had 11 points and six rebounds for NIC (18-7, 6-6 SWAC), which visits Utah State-Eastern on Saturday.
Grace Varcoe added 13 points and seven rebounds for the Cardinals.
“We came out really strong and led the whole way,” NIC coach Chris Carlson said. “Shelby had basket after basket to get us going and we snowballed. Grace Varcoe had a real solid game and played great defense. It was a good win and we’re back on track.”
Sarah Midgley scored 12 points for Colorado Northwestern (9-16, 1-12).
USU-Eastern (8-18, 1-12) lost to Southern Idaho (9-3, 24-3) 67-48 and Salt Lake (27-1, 12-1) won at Snow (19-9, 9-4) Thursday.
NORTH IDAHO
Maci Benedict 3-7 2-2 9, Shelby Cloninger 7-11 0-0 16, Monica Landdeck 3-6 0-0 9, Ebony Norman 1-6 0-0 2, Stormee Van Belle 4-8 2-3 11, Sidney Davis 2-5 0-0 4, Gracie Roberts 1-2 0-0 2, Alyssa Case 2-4 0-0 5, Kaylee Olson 1-2 0-0 3, Jocelyn Cook-Cox 1-2 0-0 2, Clarissa Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Grace Varcoe 6-8 1-1 13, Charity Marlatt 2-4 0-0 4. Totals 33-65 5-6 80.
COLORADO NORTHWESTERN
Shelby Harvey 4-10 0-2 8, Taylor Thomas 2-4 2-2 7, Rylee Thompson 0-5 2-2 2, Rachel Prescott 1-4 0-0 2, Cylee Tuimaunei 1-8 0-0 2, Sarah Midgley 4-10 2-2 12, Sierra Reynolds 1-2 0-0 2, Taylor Martin 2-7 1-2 5, Kanani Naipo 0-1 0-0 0, Megan Erickson 1-3 3-4 5. Totals 16-54 10-14 46.
Halftime (score by quarters not provided) — NIC 40-22. 3-point goals — NIC 9-19 (Benedict 1-2, Cloninger 2-4, Landdeck 3-3, Norman 0-3, Van Belle 1-2, Case 1-2, Olson 1-2, Cook-Cox 0-1), CNCC 4-10 (Thomas 1-1, Prescott 1-2, Tuimaunei 0-1, Midgley 2-6). Rebounds — NIC 43 (Varcoe 7), CNCC 31 (Harvey, Thomas, Tuimaunei 4). Assists — NIC 10 (Benedict, Roberts, Case 2), CNCC 9 (Tuimaunei 4). Team fouls — NIC 19, CNCC 8. Fouled out — none.