COEUR d'ALENE - If the 11th-ranked Southern Idaho Golden Eagles are the measuring stick of the women's Scenic West Athletic Conference race, then it will be up to the 19th-ranked North Idaho College Cardinals to grow if they want to contend for a conference title.

Holly Blades, a 5-11 freshman guard, scored a game-high 26 points on 11-of-16 shooting, including 3 of 5 from beyond the 3-point line, to lead the Golden Eagles (17-2, 4-1 SWAC) past the Cardinals (16-4, 2-3) 84-64 on Saturday afternoon at Rolly Williams Court.

"That's the bar right there," NIC coach Chris Carlson said. "I know Salt Lake beat them, but they've been ranked in the top five (of the NJCAA poll) all year. They're quick, they've got some scorers and they're just damn good. We're going to have to play a near-perfect game to beat them."

CSI led 16-14 with just over seven minutes remaining in the first half, then used a 16-2 run to stretch the advantage and never look back.

"They were definitely explosive on the offensive end," Carlson said. "We missed a few assignments and threw the ball away. And that stuff adds up fast."

NIC committed 19 turnovers and finished the game 25 of 63 from the field (39.7 percent).

CSI shot 33 of 62 (53.2), including 17 of 28 in the second half.

"We're pretty evenly matched teams," CSI coach Randy Rogers said. "But we shot it better than we've shot it all year and give our girls some credit for making those shots. I thought we had a good defensive effort and good game plan. It was the first time we've gotten to see some of those freshmen (at NIC) live, but it was a good team win for us. We had a lot of different players step up."

Kara Staggs, a 5-foot-7 guard from Okanogan, Wash., led NIC with 17 points and four assists.

"They just outworked us and denied our inside passes," Staggs said. "We didn't play good defense either. It's a lot faster here (than in high school). You've got to work a lot harder to get shots off and you've got to know the rotations on defense and get there a lot faster."

NIC hosts Colorado Northwestern on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. CSI will play a nonconference game at Treasure Valley on Monday in Ontario, Ore.

"We're in the middle of the pack right now," Carlson said. "We've got Eastern Utah (on Saturday) coming in here next week and we need to get back even with those guys, then start working on Snow and Salt Lake - and those are on the road. We've got a tough road to go. We need to work hard and get better, that's the bottom line."

SOUTHERN IDAHO

Zuleika Grinsell 0-0 0-0 0, Alli Furness 0-0 0-0 0, Cassidy Jones 2-4 1-2 6, Jackie Macias 0-0 0-0 0, Julia Dufurrena 6-9 0-0 12, Patrice Toston 4-9 4-6 12, McClain Wiliams 1-2 2-2 4, Rachelle Owens 3-4 0-0 6, Holly Blades 11-16 1-1 26, Elisabet Lopez Sagrera 2-5 1-2 5, Brittany Wirth 0-1 0-0 0, Stephanie Toumson 4-9 3-6 11, Kayla Stephens 0-2 2-2 2. Totals 33-62 14-21 84.

NORTH IDAHO

Georgia Stirton 4-10 2-2 11, Katie King 0-2 0-0 0, Jansen Butler 2-7 0-0 6, Bailey Schroeder 0-3 0-0 0, Morgan Grier 1-2 0-0 2, Ryleigh Swagerty 2-2 0-0 5, Kara Staggs 6-14 2-2 17, Sabrina Earle 0-0 0-0 0, Renae Mokrzycki 5-10 2-4 12, Caitlyn Behymer 2-7 0-0 4, Maggie Kirscher 0-0 0-0 0, Panisessi Taimani 3-6 1-2 7. Totals 25-63 7-10 64.

Halftime - CSI 44-29. 3-point goals - CSI - 4-11 (Macias 1-3, Duferrena 0-1, Toston 0-1, Williams 0-1, Blades 3-5), NIC 7-21 (Stirton 1-4, King 0-1, Butler 2-5, Schroeder 0-1, Swagerty 1-1, Staggs 3-7, Mokrzycki 0-1, Taimani 0-1). Rebounds - CSI 41 (Toumson 8), NIC 29 (Mokrzycki 8). Assists - CSI 14 (Williams 7), NIC 12 (Staggs 4). Team fouls - CSI 11, NIC 15. Fouled out - none.