COEUR d’ALENE — The holidays are about homecomings, no matter how long — or short — they might be.

So when North Idaho College women’s basketball coach Chris Carlson had the chance to get Lethbridge College, and coach Deanna Simpson — the former Dotts of Coeur d’Alene High and NIC’s 2011 national championship team — it was almost a no-brainier.

“It was a fun game to play,” Simpson said. “It’s always great to come back home and play. I know Chris is a good coach and it’s a good test for us to see where our strengths and weaknesses are.”

Simpson is in her third season as coach in Lethbridge after finishing her playing career at the school in 2014.

“I’ve talked to them, went up and looked at the national championship poster,” Simpson said. “At the beginning of the season, we’d had a conversation about no matter who you are, or what you do, you’re important to this team. I used some examples of that team and who we had and the girls got to put some faces to the names. I wouldn’t say there were any nerves, just a lot of nostalgia. I’ve got a lot of good memories in this place and people that I’ve met at this place.”

As for Friday’s game, Alex Carlton had 22 points for the Cardinals in a 82-64 win over the Kodiaks at Rolly Williams Court.

“It was great to see Deanna,” NIC coach Chris Carlson said. “I came to their shootaround today, and we stood and talked for an hour afterward. It’s so much fun to see where she’s at in her career. She’s young, enthusiastic and does a nice job. She’s got a nice feisty team, and it was nice to have them down here.”

“She’s been down recruiting and trying to get some of our kids,” Carlson said. “Finally, I just said ‘why don’t we get a game going.’ They were able to share a bus with Southern Alberta, so it worked out really well financially. We talked about it for a year and doggone it, it finally happened this year.”

It was NIC’s second home game of the season after beating the NIC All-Stars on Nov. 16, improving to 5-5.

“It’s been a long time,” Carlson said. “It’s nice to get back on our home floor. It’s nice to get back after Christmas break and a tough three-game stretch against those national junior colleges. The girls played super hard like they did in Las Vegas, and you could see that we were able to get them down. They fought back a couple times, and I thought we played hard.”

NIC lost three straight against NJCAA teams in Las Vegas Dec. 19-21.

Anna Schrade had 19 points, Rilee Mangun 18 points and seven rebounds for NIC, which faces the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology today at 2 p.m.

Keara Simpson, a sophomore from Lake City High, left the program prior to the team’s championship at the Skagit Valley tournament Dec. 15.

“I thought we played fantastic against CSI in our last game, and it was our best game so far,” Carlson said. “It’s a little different looking lineup right now, but in the long run, we’re going to be better off.”

LETHBRIDGE

Matlin McMurray 6-12 2-3 15, Kaylin Larson 1-5 0-0 3, Kirsten Barwegen 2-7 2-4 6, Brook Baker 4-10 10-12 19, Skyler Riggin 0-3 0-0 0, Tenley Schaffer 1-1 0-0 2, Dezarae Jensen 7-14 3-4 17, Abbie Hall 1-3 0-0 2, Montana Berezay 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 22-57 17-23 64.

NORTH IDAHO

Sydnie Peterson 1-7 0-1 2, Anna Schrade 9-14 1-3 19, Halle Eborall 5-10 0-0 10, Alex Carlton 7-18 3-4 22, Rilee Mangun 7-10 4-5 18, Jordyn Higgins 0-1 0-0 0, Brooke Stevens 0-1 1-2 1, Demi Randall 3-6 1-1 8, Cheyenne Green 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 33-70 10-16 82.

Lethbridge 14 12 16 22 — 64

North Idaho 21 18 22 21 — 82

3-point goals — LC 3-18 (McMurray 1-6, Larson 1-3, Barwegen 0-1, Baker 1-4, Jensen 0-2, Berezay 0-2), NIC 6-16 (Peterson 0-1, Schrade 0-1, Eborall 0-2, Carlton 5-10, Stevens 0-1, Randall 1-1). Rebounds — LC 38 (McMurray 8), NIC 40 (Schrade, Green 7). Assists — LC 5 (Berezay 3), NIC 13 (Eborall 5). Team fouls — LC 19, NIC 20. Fouled out — Green.