COEUR d'ALENE - They've had a lot of accomplishments in the past two years, but the North Idaho College Cardinals women's basketball broke new ground on Saturday night.

Freshman Katie Buskey scored a game-high 26 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field as the seventh-ranked Cardinals defeated the Southern Idaho Golden Eagles 69-63 to clinch their first Scenic West Athletic Conference championship since the 2005-06 season, and their third in school history.

"It's been a different year for us," NIC coach Chris Carlson said. "What a challenge for a team with one returning starter and 11 freshmen. To have this group step up was a tough task in this conference. To think we could have bounced back like this amazes me."

Trailing 20-19 at halftime, NIC (22-4, 11-2 SWAC) outscored CSI 50-43 in the second half on 16-of-31 shooting, compared to 7 of 31 in the first half.

Buskey had 19 points in the second half.

“She’s a winner,” Carlson said. “Katie’s been a clutch player for us and makes big plays. She’s a tough, tough player. Both her and Korina (Baker) are a really strong tandem.”

“She’s deceivingly quick,” CSI coach Randy Rogers said of Buskey. “She does a good job of keeping her dribble alive and knocked down some shots when they weren’t scoring in the first half.”

Sophomore Korina Baker had 15 points, five rebounds, six assists and four steals for NIC.

“To close it out with a win feels great right now,” Baker said. “At the start of the season, we were a real young team, but we’re starting to get into a groove. It’s really a complete 180 from where we started the season.”

Chakala Carthen scored 22 points for CSI (15-13, 7-6), which has lost its last four games away from Twin Falls.

“We were able to get healthy at home the last couple of weeks,” Rogers said. “We haven’t had a key win on the road this year.”

CSI remains in second in the SWAC with two games to play next week at Colorado Northwestern and Utah State-Eastern Utah.

“Our kids truly believe it’s a wide-open deal,” Rogers said of the Region 18 tournament, which is in Salt Lake City in two weeks. “Our kids battled tonight. This is a tough place to play. It’s a great atmosphere and Chris does a good job with his team.”

SOUTHERN IDAHO

Gabriela Borges 0-3 2-2 2, Tayllor Gipson 2-9 2-3 7, Adriana Dent 0-0 0-0 0, Kylee Schierman 1-5 0-0 2, Madie Kimball 0-0 0-0 0, Candace Prestwich 2-3 0-0 6, Megan Tanner 2-2 1-2 5, Mechela Barnes 8-25 0-1 19, Chakala Carthen 8-10 6-8 22, Liene Liepina 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-58 11-16 63.

NORTH IDAHO

Angela Woods 1-6 1-4 3, Katie Buskey 9-16 5-6 26, Korina Baker 3-9 9-10 15, Aimee Durbidge 0-3 3-4 3, Julia Salmio 7-16 1-2 15, Mollie Kramer 0-0 0-0 0, Hannah Love 0-1 0-0 0, Danika Johnson 2-6 1-2 5, Ashleigh Kelman-Poto 1-5 0-2 2. Totals 23-62 20-30 69.

Halftime — CSI 20-19. 3-point goals — CSI 6-15 (Gipson 1-4, Prestwich 2-3, Barnes 3-7, Carthen 0-1), NIC 3-16 (Woods 0-4, Buskey 3-5, Baker 0-2, Durbidge 0-2, Salmio 0-3.) Rebounds — CSI 40 (Barnes 8), NIC 43 (Woods, Johnson 8). Assists — CSI 9 (Gipson, Schierman 4), NIC 14 (Baker 6). Team fouls — CSI 21, NIC 15. Fouled out — Gipson, Schierman.