NIC BASKETBALL: Cardinal women notch win over Casper
NIC ATHLETICS North Idaho College freshman Esmeralda Galindo cheers from the bench during the second half of Thursday's game against Casper at Rolly Williams Court. Galindo scored 19 points for the Cardinals in a 67-63 win over the Thunderbirds.
• WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
COEUR d’ALENE — Any win is a good one.
North Idaho College women’s basketball coach Nathan Covill called his latest one of his better ones.
Freshman Esmeralda Galindo had 19 points and seven rebounds and sophomore Iratxe Amorrortu scored 17 points for the Cardinals in a 67-63 over Casper (Wyo.) at Rolly Williams Court on Thursday.
“Esmeralda is just a special talent,” Covill said. “She has a lot of grit and competitive spirit. Her best basketball is ahead of her. She’s still got some things to learn and figure out, but she did some good things tonight.”
Amorrortu shot 5 of 6 from the 3-point line.
“It’s nice to have someone with sophomore experience,” said Covill, whose team lead 61-51 with a little over three minutes remaining. “I told them I screwed up the end of the game and knew Casper was going to be switching a lot. I drew some things up and made things a little too difficult.”
NIC (2-3) hosts Miles City on Saturday at noon.
Casper (3-4) faces Miles City tonight at Rolly Williams Court.
“This was probably one of our biggest wins since coming back to the NJCAA,” Covill said. “Coach Dwight (Gunnare) is really well respected and won a lot of games. His teams always compete and I’m proud of how our kids competed.”
CASPER
Andi Schissler 7-17 2-3 19, Marina Concepcion 0-5 0-0 0, Arantxa Concepcion 1-4 0-0 3, Adama Badjie Coly 0-6 0-1 0, Luna Ueda 9-15 3-3 26, Saio San Francisco 2-7 0-0 4, Hassana Amadu 1-2 0-0 2, Xenia Fabregas 2-3 0-0 5, Olivia Ogston 0-2 0-0 0, Paula Barajas-Ruiz 2-4 0-0 4, Csenge Szomszed 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-66 5-7 63.
NORTH IDAHO
Chloe Collin 2-6 0-2 4, Kylani Rookstool 3-7 2-2 8, Emmalee Secrest 0-2 1-1 1, Iratxe Amorrortu 5-7 2-2 17, Summer Faleafa 5-11 1-1 13, Tiarnee Smith 2-5 1-1 5, Esmeralda Galindo 6-13 5-6 19, Ripeka Edwards 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 23-53 12-15 67.
Casper 12 14 18 19 — 63
North Idaho 16 17 16 18 — 67
3-point goals — Casper 10-26 (Schissler 3-7, M. Concepcion 0-2, A. Concepcion 1-2, Badjie Cody 0-1, Ueda 5-9, San Francisco 0-1, Fabregas 1-2, Ogston 0-1, Barajas-Ruiz 0-1), NIC 9-19 (Collin 0-1, Rookstool 0-3, Secrest 0-1, Amorrortu 5-6, Faleafa 2-3, Galindo 2-4, Edwards 0-1). Rebounds — Casper 31 (Schissler 6), NIC 29 (Galindo 7). Assists — Casper 5 (Schissler 3), NIC 8 (Collin 3). Team fouls — Casper 22, NIC 13. Fouled out — none.
• MEN'S BASKETBALL
North Idaho 105
Casper 71
COEUR d’ALENE — Sophomore Vaughn Weems scored 30 points for the Cardinals in a nonconference win over the Thunderbirds at Rolly Williams Court.
Weems, who leads the NJCAA in scoring at 32 points per game, also had eight points and three steals for NIC (4-3), which had lost its previous two against Casper this season.
“We played with a lot more focus and energy tonight,” NIC coach Corey Symons said. “We rebounded the ball really well and did a good job of taking care of the ball. We really have been focusing on getting the ball and the guys did a good job of cleaning up the glass tonight.”
Adbul Bashir, who is second in the nation in scoring with 29 per game, was limited to 16 for Casper (6-2).
NIC hosts Miles City (Mont.) on Saturday.
CASPER
Abdul Bashir 4-16 5-6 16, Ethan Connery 2-8 0-0 5, Nate Sasser III 3-9 2-2 8, Stephen Osei 1-7 3-4, Yel Deeng 3-11 6-8 15, Aaron Sievert 0-1 0-0 0, Blake Neverdon 1-2 0-0 3, Buai Luak 1-1 0-1 2, Rohan Butler-Kowlessar 0-0 1-1 1, Paul Younker 1-1 0-1 3, Parker Davis 3-8 2-2 11, Kamil Cardot 0-0 0-0 0, Binael Basil 0-1 0-1 0. Totals 19-65 19-26 69.
NORTH IDAHO
Vaughn Weems 10-18 6-7 30, Ne’quan Brown 5-8 0-0 10, Tayshawn Colvin 0-1 5-5 5, Sam Marbury 6-11 2-2 15, Tautoko Wynyard 0-0 0-0 0, Deng Diew 6-10 1-1 13, Dace Pleasant 5-9 1-1 14, Mehmet Bener 0-0 0-0 0, Jeremiah Sibley 0-0 0-0, Jacori Ervin 3-3 2-2 8, Bryce Henry 0-0 0-0 0, Ajayi Simmons 4-5 2-3 10. Totals 39-65 19-21 105.
Halftime — NIC 54-41. 3-point goals — Casper 12-34 (Bashir 3-13, Connery 1-4, Sasser III 0-1, Deeng 3-4, Sievert 0-1, Neverdon 1-2, Younker 1-1, Davis 3-8), NIC 8-22 (Weems 4-7, Brown 0-1, Colvin 0-1, Marbury 1-3, Diew 0-3, Plesant 3-6, Simmons 0-1). Rebounds — Casper 22 (Connery 7), NIC 31 (Weems 8). Assists — Casper 7 (Connery 6), NIC 9 (Marbury 3). Team fouls — Casper 21, NIC 20. Fouled out — Brown. Technical fouls — Connery, Dew, Marbury).