TAYLORSVILLE, Utah - All good things come to an end at some point.

Friday was that point for the top-seeded and defending national champion North Idaho College women's basketball team.

Salt Lake guard Marissa Robbins scored a game-high 24 points as the host and fifth-seeded Bruins upset the Cardinals 66-61 in the semifinals of the Region 18 tournament on Friday at Bruin Arena.

It is the first time in four years the Cardinals have missed the NJCAA tournament.

"Salt Lake played well," NIC coach Chris Carlson said. "They really took it to us. Their home court was a very strong advantage for them tonight. We battled back and took a lead, but we missed some opportunities late to put it away."

Sophomore Korina Baker had 21 points and four steals for NIC, which finishes 23-6. Julia Salmio had eight points and 11 rebounds for NIC.

“Korina has been an amazing leader for us this year,” Carlson said. “She’s going to be a tough one to replace. She’s just a warrior out there and carried this group of freshmen. Julia, for barely playing last year, stepped up and played well all season. I’m happy for the two sophomores. It’s nothing like last year, but it’s still pretty darn good.”

Robbins hit a jumper with 56 seconds remaining in the game to give the Bruins a 64-59 lead and Salt Lake made it 66-61 on free throws by Sofia Hepworth with six seconds remaining.

“She’s a really versatile player,” Carlson said of Robbins. “She missed six weeks with mono and came back three weeks ago. She really went off tonight and we struggled to contain her with the lineup we had out there.”

Hepworth added 22 points for Salt Lake (18-12), which faces Snow (18-12) in the championship game today. Snow beat Utah State-Eastern Utah (17-15) 67-54 earlier Friday.

NIC had beaten Salt Lake three times during conference play, as well as in the previous two Region 18 championship games to advance to nationals.

NORTH IDAHO

Katie Buskey 0-8 2-2 2, Korina Baker 8-21 4-5 21, Aimee Durbidge 0-1 0-0 0, Julia Salmio 4-12 0-0 8, Danika Johnson 3-4 0-0 6, Angela Woods 2-7 0-0 5, Tori Davenport 2-3 0-0 5, Mollie Kramer 1-1 0-0 2, Hannah Love 1-3 0-0 2, Ashleigh Kelman-Poto 4-4 2-3 10. Totals 25-64 8-10 61.

SALT LAKE

Katie Walker 3-7 0-1 6, Sofia Hepworth 9-17 3-4 21, Diamond Marchand 3-7 2-2 8, Nicole Newbold 1-4 0-1 2, Fawn Brady 0-2 0-0 0, Marissa Robbins 8-10 8-10 24, Hayli Shurtz 0-2 1-2 1, Asha McDonnell 2-2 0-0 4. Totals 26-51 14-20 66.

Halftime — SLCC 36-33. 3-point goals — NIC 3-13 (Buskey 0-5, Baker 1-4, Salmio 0-1, Woods 1-2, Davenport 1-1), SLCC 0-4 (Walker 0-1, Hepworth 0-1, Marchand 0-1, Shurtz 0-1). Rebounds — NIC 35 (Salmio 11), SLCC 36 (Newbold 9). Assists — NIC 11 (Baker, Salmio 3), SLCC 16 (Walker 6). Team fouls — NIC 20, SLCC 13. Fouled out — none.