NIC BASKETBALL: Cardinal women clinch bid to conference tournament

| March 10, 2022 1:10 AM

• WOMEN

MOSES LAKE, Wash. — On Wednesday, with the season on the line, the goal was simple for the North Idaho College women’s basketball team.

Win, or be done.

Payton Hagy had 16 points and three steals, Layla Beam 10 points and 10 assists for NIC (14-10, 9-7 NWAC), which beat Big Bend 68-61 in a Northwest Athletic Conference game, clinching the fourth seed to the conference championship tournament starting on Saturday, March 19 at Everett Community College.

“We played well and stuck to our gameplan,” NIC coach Korina Baker said. “We just left it all out there tonight. We had a lot of stuff we could have taken, but we were making the extra pass and getting good shots.”

NIC will find out its next opponent in the coming days after the conference does its draw for the tournament. As the fourth-seed, NIC will face a regional champion in the opening round.

“The girls just realized today that if we lose, we’re done,” Baker said. “They played hard, fought and I couldn’t be happier with how they executed the game plan.”

Big Bend finishes 13-12, 5-11.

NORTH IDAHO

Payton Hagy 6-10 2-3 16, Laney Smith 2-6 0-0 4, Maggie Graves 1-6 2-2 4, Layla Beam 5-10 0-0 10, Kolby Pimperton 3-14 1-2 9, Catherine Uschmann 0-2 0-0 0, Paige Beem 6-7 0-0 12, Kaylee Banks 3-5 0-0 7, Xuriyah Harry 3-9 0-0 6. Totals 29-69 5-7 68.

BIG BEND

Emma Wilhelm 2-5 0-0 5, Kaitlyn Callahan 6-13 0-0 14, Kaitlyn Anderson 0-6 0-0 0, Morgan Rushton 6-6 2-4 14, Camy Balderree 5-10 3-4 15, Callie Tolman 2-8 0-2 5, Mia Nottingham 0-1 0-0 0, Kajsia Fuller 1-3 0-0 2, Ambra Hacker 2-6 2-2 6. Totals 24-58 7-12 61.

North Idaho 18 19 12 19 — 68

Big Bend 15 13 16 17 — 61

3-point goals — NIC 5-16 (Hagy 2-4, Smith 0-2, Beam 0-1, Pimperton 2-8, Banks 1-1), BBCC 6-22 (Wilhelm 1-3, Callahan 2-6, Anderson 0-3, Balderree 2-6, Tolman 1-4). Rebounds — NIC 34 (Beam 10), BBCC 33 (Balderree 8). Assists — NIC 23 (Pimperton, Beem 6), BBCC 13 (Anderson 6). Team fouls — NIC 14, BBCC 8. Fouled out — none.

• MEN

North Idaho 91

Big Bend 83

MOSES LAKE, Wash. — Sophomore Julius Mims had 19 points and 13 rebounds for the Cardinals in a win over the Vikings in the Northwest Athletic Conference finale for both programs.

Cooper DeWitt had 15 points and nine rebounds for NIC (20-7, 14-2 NWAC), which finished second in the East Region. NIC, in the third-year of conference sanctions, is not eligible for the conference championship tournament.

KaRon Sears scored 21 points for Big Bend (7-17, 4-12).

NORTH IDAHO

Julius Mims 7-12 5-7 19, Daniel Santana 3-4 1-1 7, Cooper DeWitt 5-14 3-4 15, Taden King 2-15 0-0 6, Jalen Skalskiy 5-8 3-3 13, Brendan Johnson 2-3 0-0 6, Jack Kiesbuy 3-7 0-0 9, Trae Hugs 0-2 0-0 0, Xavier Bailey 2-3 3-4 7, Gavin Gilstrap 4-6 1-2 9. Totals 33-75 16-21 91.

BIG BEND

KaRon Sears 7-16 3-4 21, Keenan Miller 7-21 1-2 18, Jeremiah Dennis 0-0 0-0 0, Kevin Young 3-7 0-0 6, DJ Frye 5-13 1-2 12, Rocco McMakin 5-6 2-2 14, Isaac Perez 2-5 0-1 5, Ammon Brown 3-4 1-1 7. Totals 32-72 8-12 83.

Halftime — BBCC 45-41. 3-point goals — NIC 9-36 (DeWitt 2-8, King 2-13, Skalskiy 0-2, Johnson 2-3, Kiesbuy 3-7, Hugs 0-2, Bailey 0-1), BBCC 11-31 (Sears 4-9, Miller 3-11, Frye 1-3, McMakin 2-3, Perez 1-4, Brown 0-1). Rebounds — NIC 48 (Mims 13), BBCC 30 (Sears 7). Assists — NIC 21 (DeWitt 6), BBCC 18 (Dennis 5). Team fouls — NIC 11, BBCC 19. Fouled out — none. Technical fouls — Brown.