A rough welcome back for Cardinals...NIC women fall to Snow

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.

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