NIC WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Salt Lake women trash illness-riddled NIC

COEUR d’ALENE — Some games, you just take the film from it, and toss it in the nearest garbage can.

This was one of those nights for the 25th-ranked North Idaho women’s basketball team.

Salt Lake, which entered the week as the top-ranked team in this week’s NJCAA poll, outscored NIC 28-9 in the third quarter of a 75-54 win in Scenic West Athletic Conference play on Saturday at Rolly Williams Court.

“After the game, I just went in and wiped off the gameplan from the the board in the locker room,” NIC coach Chris Carlson said. “This one’s done, we’ll get better and move on from this. This game is one that you don’t need to see the flim on. We didn’t play well in that second half, or the first quarter, but got back into it. We just ran out of gas in the third quarter.”

NIC fought back from a 17-10 deficit at the end of the first quarter, getting to within one point on a 3-pointer by Maci Benedict to make it 31-30 Salt Lake. Elsa Paulsson Glantz hit a 3-pointer with five seconds remaining in the half to give Salt Lake a 34-30 lead.

Then, the wheels came off for the host Cardinals, who had eight players sick with head colds, even causing a few to miss practices this week.

“Think the virus got us,” Carlson said. “Seven of the eight quarters, they’ve really gutted it out. In the third tonight, the wheels just kind of came off. And it wasn’t just us, Salt Lake has some good players and they play hard. They’re not going to give much up. As far as being sharp, poised and concentrating on the game, we didn’t have that tonight.”

“Really all we talked about was continuing to keep the pressure on defensively,” Salt Lake coach Betsy Specketer said. “We did a better job of taking the ball out of Maci Benedict’s hands and guarding with pressure. After that, we started to knock down some shots and got the momentum on our side.”

“We had some practices with low numbers, and that’s no way to prepare for a game like this,” Carlson. “I was proud of the Snow victory (on Thursday), and the first half. We didn’t play great, but we hung around. I think everything caught up to us. Those type of games happen sometimes, you just throw it in the garbage can, or toilet — flush it — and move on. In our league, Snow beat CSI tonight, you can tell it’s going to be dynamic and we’re going to be right in the mix.”

Salt Lake (19-1, 4-1 SWAC), which lost Thursday at CSI, hosts Utah State-Eastern on Thursday.

“Out of halftime, made our first three or four shots and it was mostly because of our defense,” Specketer said. “When you get that kind of momentum, especially here because they’re so physical and so tough and well-coached, things don’t come easily here. I told the kids that things like that don’t come easily and this was a tough place to get a win.”

In the third quarter, NIC got two field goals from Ebony Norman, three free throws from Benedict and another jumper by Alyssa Case.

Monica Landdeck finished with 15 points for NIC (15-3 3-2), which travels to Southern Idaho next Saturday. CSI was upset for its first loss of the season by Snow College 62-60 on Saturday in Twin Falls.

“We’ll be OK from this,” Carlson said. “We’re getting back to school on Monday and the girls will have some new classes. It will be good to have that break and go down there and be able to rest a little.”

SALT LAKE

Nicole Forrey 0-0 0-0 0, Sydnee Taylor 1-3 0-0 2, Tianna Dougher 0-0 0-0 0, Monique Mills 7-14 2-2 16, Tilar Clark 3-13 8-9 14, Iva Georgieva 5-9 2-3 12, Dominique Mills 0-0 0-0 0, Shyan Adams 0-0 0-0 0, Karina Brandon 2-2 0-0 4, Elsa Paulsson Glantz 5-7 2-4 15, Andrea Brady 5-6 0-0 10, Ma’ata Epensia 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 29-56 14-18 75.

NORTH IDAHO

Gracie Roberts 0-1 0-0 0, Maci Benedict 1-7 6-6 9, Alyssa Case 2-7 0-2 4, Shelby Cloninger 0-4 3-4 3, Monica Landdeck 5-9 1-2 13, Jocelyn Cook-Cox 0-5 2-2 2, Ebony Norman 5-8 1-3 11, Stormee Van Belle 1-6 1-2 3, Grace Varcoe 2-6 1-2 5, Charity Marlatt 2-2 0-0 4. Totals 18-55 15-23 54.

Salt Lake 17 17 28 13 — 75

North Idaho 10 20 9 15 — 54

3-point goals — SLCC 3-8 (Taylor 0-1, Clark 0-2, Georgieva 0-1, Paulsson Glantz 3-4), NIC 3-17 (Benedict 1-6, Case 0-3, Cloninger 0-2, Landdeck 2-3, Norman 0-2, Van Belle 0-1). Rebounds — SLCC 37 (Mills, Clark 5), NIC 35 (Norman 9). Assists — SLCC 11 (Georgieva 3), NIC 10 (Van Belle 3). Team fouls — SLCC 22, NIC 17. Fouled out — Norman.