COEUR d’ALENE — And now ... they wait.

Playing for a guaranteed spot in the NJCAA tournament in Salina, Kan., starting March 18, the second-seeded North Idaho College women’s basketball team — ranked in the top 10 nationally all season — did something unusual.

Lost.

Adriana Dent scored the go-ahead basket with 28.8 seconds remaining as the top-seeded Southern Idaho Golden Eagles beat the Cardinals 57-55 in the Region 18 tournament championship game at Rolly Williams Court, denying the Cardinals — for now — a trip to nationals with a 28-4 record.

CSI (21-11) advances to nationals for the first time since 2009, when the Golden Eagles finished ninth. The NJCAA tournament is March 18-23.

“We’ve just got to wait now,” NIC coach Chris Carlson said.

“I’ve never been in this position before,” Carlson said. “It’s kind of unusual where when you lose your last game, normally everyone is crying and giving each other hugs.”

NIC will now wait until the field is announced March 12 to see if the Cardinals advance to a fourth national tournament in six years. The NJCAA tourney field was increased from 16 to 24 teams this season, and extra bids are available for teams who do not win their regional tournaments.

“We knew we’d have another chance if we went out and beat teams like Gillette, Sheridan, CSI and Salt Lake that have been ranked,” Carlson said. “Now, you hope that hard work pays off. We’ll see.”

NIC opened the game with a 19-9 lead, but proceeded to miss its next 11 shots from the field, allowing CSI to rally to take a 21-19 lead.

“They pressured the ball really well,” Carlson said. “They get some nice pressure and defend our sets really well. We kind of rolled a few people through and maybe lost some momentum.”

NIC finished the first half 8 of 27 from the field. After winning 60-42 in Twin Falls Jan. 12, NIC lost 70-68 in Coeur d’Alene on Feb. 2 and 64-53 on Feb. 23 to give the Golden Eagles the top seed to the regional tournament.

“We did a better job today than we did the last two times we’ve played them,” Carlson said. “But it just still wasn’t enough.”

NIC regained the lead at 34-31 on a 3-pointer by Angela Woods, who finished with a team-high 14 points and four assists.

“That’s kind of the way basketball goes sometimes,” Woods said. “CSI is a really good team and sometimes the ball doesn’t go in your favor. We did our best and it really comes down to that.”

Of the team’s at-large chances, Woods believes the Cardinals will be among the field in Salina in two weeks. NIC didn’t make it to nationals last year.

“We’ve put ourselves in a good position all year, just in case something like this happened,” Woods said. “We’re hoping and praying we’ll get it because we feel like we deserve it.”

Dent finished with 16 points for CSI, which opened the season with four straight losses — as well as a conference loss at Colorado Northwestern — to begin Scenic West Athletic Conference play.

“We started the season by playing some of the best teams in the country,” CSI coach Randy Rogers said. “We’re young, but we turned the corner at Colorado (Northwestern). We were down 25 at halftime, fought back and just kind of believed and those freshmen started to play like sophomores and we started to believe.”

For Rogers, who is taking CSI to nationals for the fourth time, he believed that winning the tournament was CSI’s only way to Salina.

“I thought there was no way in heck we could have gotten there (without winning),” Rogers said. “They (NIC) deserve to get there too and are having a heck of a season.”

NIC’s only losses have been to CSI (three times) and once at Salt Lake.

“They deserve to get back there too,” said Rogers of NIC. “But I just hope I don’t have to face them early. Once you’ve been there before, you never think you’re going to get back, especially this team. They’re overachievers right now.”

SOUTHERN IDAHO

Zulieka Grinsell 0-1 0-0 0, Cassidy Skidmore 1-3 0-0 2, Adriana Dent 5-11 4-4 16, Julia Dufurrena 4-6 0-0 8, Patrice Toston 1-9 3-3 6, Candace Prestwich 2-7 2-3 7, Megan Tanner 1-2 2-2 4, Edoldie Roussas 2-4 1-4 5, Sarah Viehweg 4-5 1-2 9, Jessy Saint-Felix 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 20-50 13-18 57.

NORTH IDAHO

Angela Woods 5-8 1-2 14, Katie Buskey 2-3 3-4 9, Tori Davenport 1-2 0-0 3, Kabri Emerson 0-2 0-0 0, Georgia Stirton 3-9 3-5 10, Aimee Durbidge 0-5 0-0 0, Renae Mokrzycki 1-8 0-0 2, Mollie Kramer 2-3 0-0 5, Hannah Love 4-10 2-3 10, Danika Johnson 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 19-53 9-14 55.

Halftime — CSI 29-25. 3-point goals — CSI 4-14 (Skidmore 0-1, Dent 2-2, Toston 1-4, Prestwich 1-6, Roussas 0-1), NIC 8-16 (Woods 3-5, Buskey 2-3, Davenport 1-1, Stirton 1-43, Kramer 1-1, Love 0-3). Rebounds — CSI 33 (Viehweig 7), NIC 37 (Love 7). Assists — CSI 11 (Dent 4), NIC 10 (Woods 4). Team fouls — CSI 14, NIC 16. Fouled out — none.

ALL REGION 18 TOURNAMENT TEAM

Adriana Dent, Southern Idaho (Most Valuable Player); Georgia Stirton, North Idaho; Hannah Love, North Idaho; Patrice Toston, Southern Idaho; Katie Richens, Salt Lake; Jordi Willden, Snow.