NIC BASKETBALL: A rough welcome back for Cardinals ... NIC men, women fall to Snow in return to Scenic West Athletic Conference on Wednesday

• MEN

COEUR d’ALENE — On any given night in the Scenic West Athletic Conference, anyone can beat anyone.

On Wednesday, it just wasn’t North Idaho College’s night.

Snow’s Coleman Ford hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with seven seconds remaining, sending the 10th-ranked Badgers of Ephraim, Utah, past the Cardinals 77-75 in NIC’s first SWAC games since the 2015-16 season.

NIC took a 75-74 lead on an and-1 from sophomore Jalen Skalskiy late in the second half before Ford’s shot gave them the win.

“We just couldn’t get stops on defense late in the game,” NIC coach Corey Symons said. “Snow’s a good team, but we gave ourselves a chance late, but didn’t execute. I need to do a better job of getting them prepared because we just weren’t ready down the stretch.”

NIC (12-5) rejoined the conference after playing in the Northwest Athletic Conference.

“I told the guys in the locker room, welcome back, we’ve got 48 hours to regroup and play another really good team,” Symons said. “We’ve got no time to mope and feel sorrow. We’ve got to be ready to go on Saturday.”

Snow (16-1) travels to Southern Idaho, which beat No. 2 Salt Lake 70-65 on Wednesday in Twin Falls.

Sophomore Dante Sawyer scored 21 points and freshman Vaughn Weems had 18 points and six rebounds for NIC.

Isaac Finlinson and Ford scored 13 each for Snow.

SNOW 

Mark Brown 0-4 1-2 1, Colin Christensen 2-4 2-2 6, Dylan Jones 4-11 1-3 12, Max Triplett 5-11 2-6 12, Noah Lemke 2-3 0-0 4, Donaven Davis 1-3 0-0 2, Gaige Savage 4-10 0-0 12, Isaac Finlinson 4-8 3-3 13, Coleman Ford 4-6 2-2 13, Isaac Garrett0-2 2-2 2. Totals 27-62 13-20 77.

NORTH IDAHO

Austin Johnson 3-8 0-0 7, Cobi Campbell 3-9 4-4 10, Kyle Karstetter 0-3 2-4 2, Dante Sawyer 6-12 7-8 21, Jalen Skalskiy 3-8 4-8 10, Terin Johnson 3-7 1-2 7, Vaughn Weems 7-9 3-4 18, Bryce Henry 0-0 0-0 2. Totals 25-57 20-30 75.

Halftime — Snow 40-36. 3-point goals — Snow 10-24 (Jones 3-8, Triplett 0-1, Davis 0-2, Savage 2-6, Finlinson 2-2, Ford 3-3, Garrett 0-3), NIC 5-26 (A. Johnson 5-26, Campbell 0-5, Karstetter 0-4, Sawyer 2-6, Skalskiy 1-6, Weems 1-1). Rebounds — Snow 37 (Triplett 13), NIC 1 (T. Johnson, Weems 6). Assists — Snow 7 (Triplett 2), NIC 8 (A. Johnson 3). Team fouls — Snow 20, NIC 17. Fouled out — none.

• WOMEN

Snow 78

North Idaho 70

COEUR d’ALENE — To Cardinal coach Nathan Covill, his team is close.

But not there yet.

Sophomore Solei Elletson scored 21 points off the bench for the Cardinals (7-9), who fell short to the Badgers of Ephraim, Utah in the program’s first Scenic West Athletic Conference game since the 2015-16 season.

NIC led 14-8 after the first quarter and 35-33 at halftime. Snow pulled even 53-53 after the third quarter and took the lead for good on an Emmie Barnesumper 15 seconds into the fourth quarter.

“In the fourth quarter, they kicked our butts on the offensive glass,” Covill said. “In the fourth, we were hanging by a thread. We did some good things, but we’re not there yet.”

Elletson, who joined the team after playing soccer in the fall, also had five rebounds for NIC.

“Having her back gives us another offensive weapon,” Covill said. “We rebounded the ball well and limited them to one shot in the first quarter. They kind of changed the tempo of the game a little in the second quarter and we struggled to run our offense. It was a physical game, but we did a good job of executing our offense for the first 15 minutes.”

Freshman Maddie Williamson of Malta, Mont., had 16 points, three rebounds and two steals for NIC.

Madison Hosino had 21 points for Snow (11-6), which outrebounded NIC 34-27.

“It was a lot more physical and intense than we’re used to in the NWAC,” Covill said. “They’ve got a little more depth than us and we’ll have to get used to playing at that level.”

NIC hosts Salt Lake on Saturday at 1 p.m. The Bruins beat 17th-ranked Southern Idaho 77-67 in a Scenic West opener on Wednesday in Twin Falls.

SNOW

Brooke Pennington 1-2 5-6 7, Madison Hosino 6-12 6-8 21, Emily Evans 8-10 3-3 19, Asinley Thurber 3-7 0-0 6, Signe Bang 0-0 0-0 0, Enid Vaifanua 6-12 0-0 13, Maliyah Elliott 2-7 0-0 4, Emmie Barnes 3-9 0-0 6, Lili Suguturaga 1-1 0-0 2, Iyana Beh 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 30-62 14-17 78.

NORTH IDAHO

Deniece Ryan 1-8 3-4 5, Maddie Williamson 8-11 0-0 16, Iratxe Amorrortu 2-5 0-0 6, Addie Kiefer 4-7 3-3 11, Kendall Pickford 2-6 1-2 7, Solei Elletson 9-18 1-1 21, Kalysta Troman 1-1 0-0 2, Diana Morales 0-2 0-0 0, Aaliyah Clemons 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 28-60 8-10 70.

Snow        8    25    20    25    —    78

North Idaho    14    21    18    17    —    70

3-point goals — Snow 4-11 (Hosino 3-7, Evans 0-1, Vailfanua 1-2, Barnes 0-1), NIC 6-18 (Ryan 0-1, Williamson 0-1, Amorrortu 2-3, Pickford 2-6, Elletson 2-7). Rebounds — Snow 34 (Evans 10), NIC 27 (Kifer 6). Assists — Snow 15 (Pennington 5), NIC 13 (Amorrortu 4). Team fouls — Snow 16, NIC 18. Fouled out — none.

    NORTH IDAHO COLLEGE ATHLETICS North Idaho College guard Maddie Williamson attempts to shoot over Snow's Ainsley Thurber in the third quarter of Wednesday's Scenic West Athletic Conference game at Rolly Williams Court.