COEUR d'ALENE - With their respective nonconference schedules completed - tonight begins the second phase of the 2011-12 season for the North Idaho College Cardinals men's and women's basketball teams - taking on the rest of the Scenic West Athletic Conference.

The NIC men (14-1) open their SWAC schedule against Snow College (11-2) at Rolly Williams Court tonight at 7:30.

"I think we're on the right track right now," NIC men's basketball coach Jared Phay said. "I really like the group of players we've got. It might be tough with the new guys that haven't faced the conference battle yet, but we're ready."

The NIC women look to defend their Region 18 tournament championship starting today at 5 p.m. against Snow.

"For as young as we are, we've played some good competition," NIC women's coach Chris Carlson said. "I think we're ready to get the conference season started."

The Badgers are last in scoring defense with 68.1 points per game. NIC is fourth with 59.4 a game.

Men: Snow sophomore Travis Wilkens, a 6-foot-3 shooting guard, leads the conference in scoring with 18.8 points per game. The Badgers also return 5-10 sophomore Brandon Vega, who started at point guard last year.

"Travis might be the best shooter at the junior college level in the nation," Phay said. "He's a really good player. Brandon could be as good as any other guard in the conference."

Wilkens is tied for the SWAC lead in 3-point percentage, hitting 43 of 86 attempts.

NIC's Keon Lewis is seventh in the SWAC in scoring with 14.6 points and teammate Michael Middlebrooks is ninth with 12.4 points per game. Middlebrooks leads the SWAC in rebounds with 10.1 a game.

Snow went 3-0 to win the Clark College Holiday Invitational Dec. 27-29 in Vancouver, Wash.

“I’ve been really impressed with Snow so far,” Phay said. “They could be the toughest, hardest playing team right now. Between them, Southern Idaho, Salt Lake, Eastern Utah and us, there’s not going to be much difference between winning the conference and the middle of the pack.”

NIC and Snow are the top two teams in the SWAC in scoring defense, with the Cardinals allowing 64.9 points a game, compared to the Badgers with 66.4 a game.

NIC concludes the week against fifth-ranked Salt Lake (13-2) on Saturday at 5 p.m.

Agustine Ambrosino, a 6-8 post and Darian Cartharn, a transfer from Wright State, are players to watch for the Bruins.

“We’re at home, so we like that,” Phay said. “I guess we’ll find out what we’re made of. But I know we’ve got the talent and size to compete with anyone in our league.”

NIC avenged its only loss of the season last Friday with a 76-56 win over the Community Colleges of Spokane at West Valley High.

“It was a good win for us,” Phay said. “I like how we responded after a loss. But all 15 of our games don’t mean anything unless we can do well in our conference.”

Women: Snow (7-7) leads the SWAC in scoring with 77.5 points per game, with NIC (11-2) third at 69.8.

“They’ve beaten some pretty good teams,” Carlson said of Snow. “They just played Central Arizona to a four-point game. (Erica) Martinez has been scoring a lot of points for them and they’re looking like a good, solid team. They’ve got a new coach and started really hot and got some nice wins. I’m just feeling like they’re a good SWAC team.”

Martinez is second in the league in scoring with 16.8 points per game. NIC guard Korina Baker is seventh with 12.1 points a game and Julia Salmio eighth with 11.7 a game.

Freshman Ashleigh Kelman-Poto is second in rebounding with 7.3 a game.

“There’s a lot of parity in our league this year,” Carlson said. “Colorado Northwestern has nine wins already. Salt Lake has won seven in a row and CSI is always dangerous. Just based on the records, there’s going to be a lot of parity this year.”

NIC hosts Salt Lake (9-4) on Saturday at 3 p.m. in a rematch of last season’s Region 18 tournament title game.

Sofia Hepworth leads the Bruins with 14.7 points per game.

“Sofia had a great tournament against us last year,” Carlson said. “She’s a real clutch player and a strong player. They lost quite a few starters also, but they’re always a solid team.”

This year’s Region 18 tournaments will be held at Salt Lake City March 8-10 — a tournament the Cardinal women have won three straight years.

“A couple of coaches have said we’re the team to beat,” Carlson said. “I don’t know about that right now. We’re awfully young and still molding and shaping things. But teams are going to come after us because we’re defending champions. We’ve already felt that. But we’re a junior college and most of them are gone. We’re really excited about getting league started. We’ve got our first three games at home and we’re ready for the challenge.”

Both games will be available at www.nicathletics.com and clicking on the “live webcasts” link.