* WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

SALT LAKE CITY - North Idaho College, ranked No. 4 in the NJCAA, edged No. 19 Salt Lake Community College 55-53 on Saturday to maintain its one-game lead atop the Scenic West Athletic Conference standings.

NIC (27-2, 12-2 SWAC) concludes its regular season next Saturday at No. 15 Southern Idaho (18-11, 11-3), which beat Snow 69-66 in overtime on Saturday. NIC can wrap up the league title with a victory. If CSI wins, the two teams share the league title, but CSI earns the No. 1 seed to the Region 18 tournament by taking two of three from the Cardinals.

Georgia Stirton scored a game-high 12 points for NIC, which clinched at least a share of the conference title, and Renae Mokrzycki added eight points and 13 rebounds.

"We played great," NIC coach Chris Carlson said. "We had several people step up and step out of their normal zones and make big plays for us - Renae on the boards, Danika (Johnson) shot the ball well, Kabri (Emerson) had some great post moves, and Georgia hit a big 3 at the end. It was just a great team win - just the kind you want just before regionals, a tough road win."

Rachel Morris had 13 points and 13 rebounds for Salt Lake (16-10, 7-6).

NORTH IDAHO

Angela Woods 0-5 2-2 2, Katie Buskey 2-5 2-5 7, Kabri Emerson 5-10 0-2 11, Georgia Stirton 5-15 1-2 12, Renae Mokrzycki 4-11 0-0 8, Aimee Durbidge 3-6 3-3 9, Mollie Kramer 0-2 0-0 0, Danika Johnson 3-9 0-0 8. Totals 22-63 8-14 55.

SALT LAKE

Katie Richens 5-13 1-4 11, Diamond Marchand 1-6 1-3 3, Mercedes Riggs 3-6 0-0 6, Bella Swan 4-8 1-2 9, Rachel Morris 5-7 3-6 13, Britney Johnson 1-1 0-0 2, Summer Yack 0-3 0-0 0, Miranda Averett 1-4 2-2 4, Jessica Evans 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-55 8-17 53.

Halftime - SLCC 27-26. 3-point goals - NIC 3-12 (Woods 0-3, Buskey 1-1, Emerson 1-2, Stirton 1-5, Johnson 0-1), SLCC 1-6 (Marchand 0-1, Riggs 0-1, Yack 0-2, Parsons 1-2). Rebounds - NIC 43 (Mokrzycki 13), SLCC 40 (Morris 13). Assists - NIC 9 (Stirton 4), SLCC 18 (Riggs 5). Fouled out - Johnson. Total fouls - NIC 17, SLCC 15.

* MEN'S BASKETBALL

Salt Lake 74

North Idaho 69

SALT LAKE CITY - With a chance to wrap up the top seed to the Region 18 tournament, the 10th-ranked Cardinals (25-4, 12-2 SWAC) came up short - and now No. 12 Salt Lake (24-3, 12-1) is in the driver's seat for the No. 1 seed.

NIC wraps up the regular season Saturday at Southern Idaho (19-10, 6-8), needing a win and losses by Salt Lake to Colorado Northwesern and Utah State-Eastern - the bottom two teams in the SWAC, to overtake the Bruins for the top seed.

"The bottom line is, we turned the ball over too much," NIC coach Jared Phay said. "Too many turnovers down the stretch. They threw a 1-3-1 at us and we didn't play very smart, didn't make very good basketball decisions down the stretch."

NIC led by nine points late in the first half before Gary Payton II - son of the former Sonics great - hit a half-court shot at the buzzer to pull Salt Lake within 38-32 at the break. Payton finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds.

The Bruins quickly tied the game early in the second half, and it went back and forth the rest of the way.

Jalil Abdul-Bassit led NIC with 23 points. Michael Middlebrooks had eight points and 10 rebounds, but fouled out with four minutes to play. Kaj Sherman also was saddled with foul trouble, leaving the Cardinals thin inside.

NORTH IDAHO

Jalil Abdul-Bassit 7-15 6-7 23, Chris Sarbaugh 1-4 3-4 5, Keon Lewis 1-5 4-6 7, Michael Middlebrooks 4-6 0-0 8, Kaj Sherman 2-4 2-2 6, Jordan McCloud 0-0 2-2 2, Mikey Hope 3-8 0-0 7, Dalen Erickson 0-1 0-0 0, James Webb III 5-9 1-1 11, Cole Luckett 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-53 18-22 69.

SALT LAKE

Casey Oliverson 2-5 0-1 4, Gary Payton II 9-15 1-1 23, Tyrell Corbin 0-4 5-6 5, Sai Tummala 3-14 4-6 11, Skyler Halford 4-11 4-4 13, Jaden Jackson 0-0 0-0 0, Yi Hsiang Chou 2-4 0-0 4, Seth Weinheimer 0-1 0-2 0, JuWan Buchanan 5-10 4-6 14, Nick Jenson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-64 18-26 74.

Halftime - NIC 38-32. 3-point goals - NIC 5-16 (Abdul-Bassit 3-7, Sarbaugh 0-1, Lewis 1-2, Hope 1-2, Erickson 0-1, Webb 0-2, Luckett 0-1), SLCC 6-22 (Payton 4-7, Corbin 0-1, Tummala 1-6, Halford 1-5, Chou 0-1, Buchanan 0-2). Rebounds - NIC 36 (Middlebrooks 10), SLCC 37 (Payton 10). Assists - NIC 10 (Sarbaugh 5), SLCC 16 (Corbin 5). Fouled out - Middlebrooks. Total fouls - NIC 22, SLCC 21. Technical foul - Payton.

* SOFTBALL

North Idaho 11-9

S. Nevada 0-13

LAS VEGAS - Shelby Carter's two-run home run highlighted a four-run first inning as North Idaho College beat the College of Southern Nevada 11-0 in five innings in the first game of a Scenic West Athletic Conference doubleheader.

Southern Nevada won the second game 13-9.

Former Post Falls High standout Tori Schuler hit a three-run double in the fourth inning for NIC (4-11, 1-7 SWAC), and ex-Coeur d'Alene Viking Nikki Ragsdale hit a two-run single in the fifth.

No linescore was available for the second game.

NIC travels to Ephraim, Utah, for doubleheaders vs. Snow College on Friday and Saturday.

FIRST GAME

North Idaho 411 32 - 11 13 0

S. Nevada 000 00 - 0 4 3