COEUR d'ALENE - North Idaho College got its first taste of Snow in 2012 on Thursday night, but the host Cardinals were able to plow through the Badgers to open the Scenic West Athletic Conference men's and women's basketball schedule with two wins at Rolly Williams Court.

After North Idaho missed 16 of its first 22 free throws, guards Keon Lewis and Connor White each made a pair of free throws in the final 42.8 seconds to lead the Cardinals (15-1, 1-0 SWAC) to a 63-60 win over the Badgers (11-3, 0-1) in the men's game.

"It wasn't pretty, but you like to see it as a coach because we're getting to the basket and defending the way we needed to," NIC coach Jared Phay said.

NIC jumped out to a 35-27 halftime lead after shooting 6 of 9 from beyond the 3-point line. The Cardinals made 1 of 10 free throw attempts in the first half.

Earlier, NIC sophomore Julia Salmio had a team-high 16 points - 14 coming in the second half - as the Cardinal women (12-2, 1-0 SWAC) defeated the Badgers (7-8, 0-1) 87-72.

Snow led 16-5 early on, but NIC battled back and took the lead on a jumper by former Post Falls High standout Tori Davenport to take a 34-32 halftime lead.

“I thought we had a good game plan,” NIC women’s coach Chris Carlson said. “Had we executed a little better, we would have been in better shape.”

NIC hosts Salt Lake on Saturday starting with the women’s game at 3 p.m., followed by the men at 5.

Men: Antoine Hosley scored a team-high 13 points for NIC.

“I thought we played well in the first half,” Hosley said. “We kind of let up in the second half and shot pretty bad from the free-throw line — but I’m glad we got the win.”

Snow went on an 11-0 run late in the second half without starting point guard Brandon Vega, who was ejected after getting a second technical foul with 5:26 remaining. Vega will miss Saturday’s game at Southern Idaho due to conference rules.

“To Snow’s credit, they went on a run and made it a game,” Phay said.

“It was a really good game between two great teams,” Snow coach Michael Ostlund said. “Jared’s teams are always really good and didn’t disappoint tonight. They shot well in the first half.”

Snow’s Travis Wilkins, a 6-3 guard who has signed with Southern Illinois and entered the game leading the SWAC in scoring with 18.8 points per game, was held to eight points.

“Connor White really did a good job on him tonight,” Phay said. “He’s a great shooter and you’ve got to have a game plan against him.”

“He’s a pretty patient player,” Ostlund said of Wilkins. “He hit some shots for us, but we all shot poorly on the same night.”

Zach Myaer 0-0 0-0 0, Sam Hoopes 0-0 1-2 1, Brandon Vega 3-10 3-4 9, Riley Crosbie 0-0 0-0 0, Tiegbe Bamba 5-14 3-5 16, Nick Gruniger 0-0 2-2 2, Connor Van Brocklin 1-4 0-0 2, Travis Wilkins 1-8 5-6 8, Cheikh Tidiane Sane 4-10 1-2 9, Teancum Stafford 3-11 4-8 10, Brad Mears 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 18-59 20-31 60.

NORTH IDAHO

Jordan McCloud 3-5 0-1 6, Antoine Hosley 5-9 0-0 13, Connor White 2-4 3-6 9, Kwame Bates 2-4 0-0 6, Keon Lewis 2-11 4-9 8, Michael Middlebrooks 3-3 0-0 6, Edrico McGregor 4-7 3-6 11, Petar Joksimovic 1-5 0-2 2, Kaj Sherman 1-2 0-2 2. Totals 23-50 10-26 63.

Halftime — NIC 35-27. 3-point goals — Snow 4-19 (Vega 0-1, Bamba 3-8, Van Brocklin 0-3, Wilkins 1-4, Stafford 0-3), NIC 7-18 (Hosley 3-5, White 2-3, Bates 2-3, Lewis 0-3, Joksimovic 0-3). Rebounds — Snow 42 (Bamba 9), NIC 42 (Sherman 12). Assists — Snow 8 (Vega, Stafford 2), NIC 13 (Lewis, Sherman 3). Team fouls — Snow 22, NIC 24. Fouled out — Middlebrooks. Technical fouls — Vega 2, Bates, Sherman.

Women: Freshman Katie Buskey scored 15 points off the bench for the Cardinals on 3-of-6 shooting from beyond the 3-point line.

“I was really excited,” Buskey said. “I’m glad we came together in the second half. For having 11 freshmen and only two sophomores, they’ve done a great job of leading us.”

NIC outscored Snow 38-9 off the bench.

“Katie had been struggling so we got Tori into the starting lineup,” Carlson said. “I was glad with how they responded. Katie did a great job off the bench tonight.”

Korina Baker had 12 points and seven assists, Angela Woods 14 points for NIC.

“Angela was really steady both inside and outside tonight,” Carlson said. “To get this first game out of the way was really important. We’ll be a little bit more prepared for Salt Lake on Saturday.”

Erica Martinez was 13 of 26 from the field, 6 of 10 from beyond the 3-point line for 34 points for Snow. Martinez had seven points in the first half.

“They made some adjustments at halftime,” Snow coach Natalie Visger said. “They just out physicaled us in the second half and played at another speed that hurt us tonight.”

Becca Rees 0-0 0-0 0, Kelsi Wells 3-8 2-2 9, Katie Vincent 0-2 1-2 1, Danielle Lockhart 4-6 2-3 10, Tori McGrath 3-5 0-0 7, Courtnie Duncan 0-1 0-0 0, Jordi Willden 2-4 2-2 6, Cassie Holmes 0-0 1-2 1, Erica Martinez 13-26 6-10 34, Vika Havili 0-0 0-0 0, Kaitlyn Diaz 1-4 2-4 4. Totals 26-56 12-17 72.

NORTH IDAHO

Angela Woods 6-13 0-0 14, Kate Buskey 5-10 2-2 15, Tori Davenport 2-4 0-0 5, Hailey Petit 0-0 2-4 2, Korina Baker 4-9 3-5 12, Dani Kastrava 1-1 2-2 4, Aimee Durbidge 2-3 3-3 7, Julia Salmio 8-10 0-0 16, Mollie Kramer 0-2 0-0 0, Hannah Love 2-4 0-1 4, Danika Johnson 3-3 0-0 6, Ashleigh Kelman-Poto 1-5 0-0 2. Totals 34-64 12-17 87.

Halftime — NIC 34-32. 3-point goals — Snow 8-17 (Wells 1-2, McGrath 1-3, Martinez 6-10, Diaz 0-2), NIC 7-16 (Woods 2-6, Buskey 3-6, Davenport 1-2, Baker 1-1, Kramer 0-1). Rebounds — Snow 35 (Wells 10), NIC 29 (Kelman-Poto 7). Assists — Snow 15 (Martinez 6), NIC 22 (Baker 7). Team fouls — Snow 15, NIC 18. Fouled out — none.