COEUR d'ALENE - North Idaho College forward Aimee Durbidge was so excited that her parents in Boambee East, Australia, could watch her play on the webcast of Saturday's Scenic West Athletic Conference game - she had her host parents, sitting in the crowd, wear a shirt from her home country to say hello.

They picked a good one to watch.

Durbidge hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 40 seconds remaining and added a late free throw to give the Cardinals, ranked 12th in the NJCAA, a 62-59 win over the Bruins at Rolly Williams Court.

"Aimee's a really good shooter," NIC coach Chris Carlson said. "She really had no fear on that shot. She's made a lot of those in practice for us."

"Oh my god this was huge," said Durbidge, a 5-foot-11 freshman reserve. "My gosh, what a win. I had the space to make the shot and had to take the risk. It was a huge adrenaline rush."

Salt Lake jumped out to a 28-13 lead midway through the first half and led 34-24 at halftime.

NIC (13-2, 2-0 SWAC) took its first lead of the game at 51-50 on a pair of free throws by Korina Baker with 5:04 remaining, but gave the lead back after a technical foul was called on the Cardinals' P.A. announcer for playing music during live action.

Sofia Hepworth hit one of two technical free throws to tie the game, then Salt Lake (9-5, 0-2) built a 55-51 lead with 3:50 remaining on a basket by Nicole Newbold. NIC freshman Angela Woods hit a 3-pointer with 1:18 remaining to give the Cardinals a 58-57 lead.

"This team is so resilient," Carlson said. "We've got a bunch of freshmen and have been a little distracted and had some slow starts. But we're a tenacious comeback team."

Sophomore Korina Baker had a game-high 17 points and nine steals for NIC, which hosts Southern Idaho next Saturday.

"I'm really glad we pulled through today," Baker said. "We showed we wanted it a little bit more in the second half."

NIC went 17 of 35 from the free-throw line, compared to Salt Lake, which shot 9 of 11.

It was the first meeting since NIC beat Salt Lake in the championship game of the Region 18 tournament. NIC went on to win its first national title.

"I was really, really disappointed in how we finished," Salt Lake coach Betsy Specketer said. "We had every chance to win, but just made poor decisions in the second half. We showed where we can be a good team, but got a little tight."

SALT LAKE

Katie Walker 0-3 4-4 4, Cheryl Harless 1-1 0-0 2, Marissa Robbins 0-00 5-8 5, Sofia Hepworth 5-13 1-2 11, Chelsea Morgan 0-1 0-0 0, Hayli Shurtz 2-4 0-0 6, Diamond Marchand 0- 2-2 2, Nicole Newbold 5-6 1-3 11, Haley Sturdevant 0-0 0-0 0, Fawn Brady 3-6 2-3 8, Asha McDonnell 5-8 0-0 10. Totals 21-43 15-22 59.

NORTH IDAHO

Angela Woods 2-12 1-2 7, Katie Buskey 5-7 1-5 14, Tori Davenport 1-3 0-0 2, Korina Baker 3-14 11-14 17, Dani Kastrava 1-1 0-0 3, Aimee Durbidge 3-5 2-4 9, Julia Salmio 1-7 1-2 3, Mollie Kramer 0-0 0-0 0, Hannah Love 0-1 0-0 0, Danika Johnson 2-4 0-0 4, Ashleigh Kelman-Poto 1-5 1-8 3. Totals 19-59 17-35 62.

Halftime - SLCC 34-24. 3-point goals - SLCC 2-10 (Walker 0-2, Hepworth 0-2, Morgan 0-1, Shurtz 2-3, Marchand 0-1, Brady 0-1), NIC 7-19 (Woods 2-6, Buskey 3-5, Davenport 0-1, Baker 0-4, Kastrava 1-1, Durbidge 1-1, Love 0-1). Rebounds - SLCC 39 (Newbold 9), NIC 38 (Woods 8). Assists - SLCC 12 (Walker 3), NIC 7 (Woods, Baker 3). Team fouls - SLCC 26, NIC 14. Fouled out - McDonnell.