Cardinals fall to Utah State-Eastern

Utah State-Eastern 81, North Idaho 55: For three quarters, the host Cardinals looked as if they'd caught up with the 16th-ranked Eagles of Price, Utah.

But, the 5:05 stretch at the second quarter in which Utah State-Eastern used a 19-0 run to pull away has second-year NIC coach Nathan Covill going back to the drawing board.

Utah State-Eastern, which scored the game's first 10 points, built a 34-9 lead with 4:55 remaining in the first half of the Scenic West Athletic Conference game at Rolly Williams Court.

"I thought we competed well in the second half," Covill said. "We've still got some issues where we weren't making corrections, but we competed a lot better. It definitely doesn't help when they make their first five shots, and we miss our first six. How we played in the second half is something that we can look forward to going into practice on Monday."

NIC (7-11, 0-3 SWAC) travels to the College of Southern Nevada of Las Vegas on Thursday.

"The message to them was we've all got choices," Covill said. "You can choose to get this bad taste out of our mouths on Monday, and hopefully we'll make the right ones."

NIC pulled with 57-39 early in the fourth on a jumper by Kendall Pickford.

"Defensively, we have small, brief glimpses of being a defensive team," Covill said. "And then we've got a lot of breakdown transition wise. In the second quarter, they're deep and we didn't stop the ball. They just pushed it down our throats and by the time we saw the ball coming, we were being reactive instead of someone that dictates pressure. It's tough to win games when you're the one that's reacting to what everything people are doing. We did some good things and changed that in the second half."

Sophomore Solei Elletson, who also plays soccer at NIC, had 15 points and four rebounds. Elletson did not play the first two months of the season to rest following the soccer season.

"Getting her back has been a blessing, not just because she's talented, but we're thin on numbers," Covill said. "We're trying to find ways to get her spots to score. She competed really well today for the entire 40 minutes. She's a multi-sport athlete, so you know what you're going to get on a daily basis from here."

NIC finished 20-of-65 shooting, compared to 33-of-61 for Utah State-Eastern. Freshman guard Ellie Esplin scored 15 points for Utah State-Eastern.

"It's a tough job because they can get to the basket," ninth-year Utah State-Eastern coach Chelsey Warburton said. "We were able to get out to their shooters and did a good job. It's a tough gym to play in, so I'm pleased with the result. We were able to push the ball and did a good job of sharing the ball and knocking down some shots."

UTAH STATE-EASTERN

Ellie Esplin 7-11 0-0 15, Summer Christensen 4-10 0-0 9, Aly Coombs 2-7 2-4 6, Japrix Weaver 3-4 2-2 10, Hadley Humphreys 4-6 2-3 10, McKenzie Allen 1-1 0-0 2, Janel Blazzard 2-4 0-0 5, Madison Anderson 3-6 0-0 6, Kianna Lighthall 0-0 0-0 0, Brinlee McRae 2-4 0-0 4, Annie Stinar 5-7 0-0 14, Teuila Fa'alogo 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 33-61 6-9 81.

NORTH IDAHO

Deniece Ryan 4-10 1-3 10, Maddie Williamson 2-11 2-4 6, Iratxe Amorrortu 1-2 2-3 4, Addie Kiefer 4-9 2-4 10, Kendall Pickford 2-14 0-0 5, Solei Elletson 5-13 2-2 15, Kalysta Troman 1-2 0-0 3, Diana Morales 1-1 0-0 2, Faye Davis 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 20-65 9-16 55.

USU-Eastern    14    25    18    24    —    81

North Idaho    9    10    17    19    —    55

3-point goals — USUE 9-18 (Esplin 1-3, Christensen 1-4, Coombs 0-1, Weaver 2-3, Blazzard 1-1, McRae 0-1, Stinar 4-5), NIC 6-16 (Ryan 1-1, Pickford 1-8, Elletson 3-6, Troman 1-1). Rebounds — USUE 39 (Humphreys 11), NIC 26 (Pickford 6). Assists — USUE 13 (Christensen 4), NIC 6 (Pickford 4). Team fouls — USUE 14, NIC 7. Fouled out — none.

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