JASON ELLIOTT/Press North Idaho College freshman guard Esmeralda Galindo drives to the basket during a Feb. 8 game against Southern Idaho at Rolly Williams Court. NIC opens the Region 18 women's basketball tournament against Snow today in Twin Falls.

REGION 18 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT: Cardinals shake off illness, prep for Snow

By JASON ELLIOTT

Sports writer

They’ve shaken the sickness and injury bug.

Now, about those late season struggles.

The North Idaho College women’s basketball enters this week’s Region 18 Tournament as the third seed and will face second-seeded Snow in the opening game today at 4 p.m. PDT on the campus of College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls.

NIC faced Snow in its regular season finale on March 1, falling 65-59 in Ephraim, Utah. NIC was without Esmeralda Galindo, the conference’s leading scorer and was battling illness in that game.

Almost two weeks later, the Cardinals are back healthy according to third-year coach Nathan Covill.

“People got rid of the sickness and Essie’s clear,” Covill said. “Our bodies are rested for sure. We really needed that break to get healthy. We’ve spent the last two weeks resting and getting shots up.”

Snow won two of three games against NIC this season.

“They’ve really hurt us inside and on the glass in the last couple of games,” Covill said. “We need to be able to rebound and they’ve done a good job with (posts) (Iyana) Beh and (Kiriana) Hawaikirangi. We need to minimize their opportunities. Right now, they’re carrying them a little bit, but they’ve also got really good guards.”

Galindo leads the conference in scoring at 18.5 points per game, with NIC guard Kylani Rookstool second at 15.1 points per game.

“They’ve been playing with high energy and making great adjustments all year,” Covill said. “Having Essie back is a huge get for us. Both her and Kylani have been a good 1-2 punch. And Chloe (Collin) has really been stepping up. They’ve been a blessing to coach and they’ve answered the bell every time we’ve asked this year.”

Fourth-seeded Salt Lake (19-10) faces top-seeded CSI (23-7) in the second game, with the winners playing on Friday at 2 p.m. PDT in the championship game.

The champion advances directly to the NJCAA Tournament March 25 to April 1 in Casper, Wyo.

Eight at-large selections will also advance.

“Each team in this tournament, we’ve beaten at least once and we’ve got the ability to beat those teams,” Covill said. “We’ve got to worry about beating Snow one quarter at a time. We’ve lost our last three road games, which isn’t good headed into the tournament. But we’ve got to trust that the work we’ve done is going to pay off.”

REGION 18 WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

At College of Southern Idaho

Twin Falls

Thursday’s Games

Game 1 — No. 3 North Idaho (17-12) vs. No. 2 Snow (20-10), 4 p.m.

Game 2 — No. 4 Salt Lake (19-10) vs. No. 1 Southern Idaho (23-7), 6:30 p.m.

Friday’s Game

Game 3 — championship game, 2 p.m.

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