If this year's Region 18 men's and women's tournaments are anything like what happened on Saturday at North Idaho College, it could be anyone's guess just who makes it to their respective NJCAA tournaments.

WITH THE regular season winding down for teams in the Scenic West Athletic Conference, teams are battling for positioning for the Region 18 tournament next week in Salt Lake City.

Both the North Idaho women and Southern Idaho men won national titles last season.

Games between the rival men's and women's teams are often close, but this time around they could have been considered too close for comfort.

The 69-63 win by the NIC women led to its third conference title in school history - and first since 2005-06.

Even with all the accolades they accomplished last year - including an NJCAA title, the Cardinals didn't win the SWAC - Salt Lake did - but won the regional title game against Salt Lake in Twin Falls to get back to nationals.

NIC coach Chris Carlson, who was named national coach of the year last season, said that this year's group is one of resiliency.

"To win this league with this group took a resilient effort," Carlson said. "We're champions. We did everything it took and each challenge in front of us."

Returning only two players from last year's team, the Cardinals have relied on 11 freshmen this season.

"It hasn't been an easy thing to do," Carlson said. "My hat is off to this group. It's an outstanding accomplishment for those girls."

Getting the win Saturday wasn't easy either for NIC, pulling away only in the final minutes to move to 12-2 in the conference.

THE FINISH in the men's game may not have gone the way that NIC fans wanted it to, but there's plenty of positives moving forward.

After trailing by 15 points midway into the second half, NIC found a way to battle back to force overtime against the defending NJCAA champions.

Who knows — had a 3-pointer from NIC’s Antoine Hosley found a way into the basket with 16.6 seconds remaining, maybe the Cardinals spoil the Golden Eagles’ conference championship plans for a few days.

Then again, a shot by CSI guard Fabyon Harris also came up short, but it didn’t wind up costing them the game, as the Golden Eagles outscored the Cardinals 16-10 in overtime.

NIC finished without starting point guard Keon Lewis, who injured his ankle early in the first half and didn’t return to the game.

Snow beat Colorado Northwestern and Utah State-Eastern Utah last weekend to control its own destiny for the No. 2 seed with losses by Salt Lake and NIC.

NIC needs to win out to have a shot at the third seed, with Salt Lake needing a win at Snow to keep its hopes alive.

Stranger things have happened, especially in this conference.

NIC and CSI played for a third time this season on Saturday night.

Something tells me a fourth might be happening a lot sooner than later.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com.