Lady Cards fall to CSI; teams tied for first in conference

Southern Idaho 74 

North Idaho 52 

TWIN FALLS — Everything's still in front of the Cardinals as far as winning a conference title, hosting the Region 18 Tournament and extending their postseason run to nationals. 

But there's still some work to be done. 

NIC, which entered the game with a one-game lead over Southern Idaho in the Scenic West Athletic Conference, fell to the Golden Eagles on Saturday. CSI (21-7, 9-4 SWAC) won the season series over NIC (17-10) 2-1, with both teams scheduled to play at Utah State-Eastern and Snow next week to conclude the regular season. 

"We didn't play well and I didn't have the girls ready to play today," NIC coach Nathan Covill said. "It's hard to beat anybody when they're engaged and tough at home, and CSI is tough. We need to dust ourselves off and get ready to win two games on the road next week. Record-wise, CSI has the tiebreaker now, but if we go down and take care of business next week, who knows. We've got to get dialed in. We still control our destiny a little bit, but need to take care of business next weekend." 

Freshman Esmeralda Galindo, the reigning conference Player of the Week, had 14 points for NIC. 

Kayla Porray scored 22 points for CSI, which plays at Snow next Thursday. 

In other conference play on Saturday, third-place Snow (18-9, 7-5) won at fourth-place Salt Lake (18-9, 7-6) 64-60 and Utah State-Eastern (15-12, 7-6) — now tied with Salt Lake for the final regional berth — beat Colorado Northwestern (3-26, 0-14) 55-42 in Rangely, Colo. 

NORTH IDAHO 

Chloe Collin 3-7 0-2 9, Kylani Rookstool 5-13 2-2 13, Esmeralda Galindo 5-14 2-2 14, Iratxe Amorrortu 2-5 0-0 6, Summer Faleafa 3-7 0-0 7, Tiarnee Smith 0-2 0-0 0, Larkin Christiansen 0-0 0-0 0, Ripeka Edwards 1-3 0-0 2, Molly Axell 0-0 0-0, Emmalee Secrest 0-5 1-2 1, Tayler Adams 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 19-57 5-8 52. 

SOUTHERN IDAHO 

Alina Sapilak 0-4 0-0 0, Kennedy Gillette 6-13 1-2 13, Mariah Mons 4-6 0-0 10, Falon Bedke 1-1 1-2 3, Kayla Porray 9-14 2-5 22, Chloe Jensen 0-0 0-0 0, Samara Morrow 3-6 0-0 6, Calyn Wood 1-2 0-0 3, Kayla Kasabuchi 0-2 0-0 0, Savannah Stoker 5-9 1-2 11, Macie Brown 1-2 0-0 2, Ashley Garner 2-6 0-0 4. Totals 32-65 5-11 74. 

North Idaho    16    16    9    11    —    52 

Southern Idaho    24    18    16    16    —    74 

3-point goals — NIC 9-24 (Collin 3-4, Rookstool 1-6, Galindo 2-4, Amorrortu 2-3, Faleafa 1-4, Smith 0-1, Edwards 0-1, Secrest 0-1), CSI 5-17 (Sapilak 0-1, Gillette 0-4, Mons 2-3, Porray 2-3, Morrow 0-1, Wood 1-2, Kasabuchi 0-2, Brown 0-1). Rebounds — NIC 28 (Collin, Galindo 5), CSI 46 (Brown 10). Assists — NIC 12 (Edwards 5), CSI 15 (Gillette, Morrow, Kasabuchi 3). Team fouls — NIC 12, CSI 14. Fouled out — none. 

To view the full article, please visit the CDA Press at this link.