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POST FALLS — When the shots weren’t falling in the first half, North Idaho College turned to the other thing that has kept the Cardinals on top of the Northwest Athletic Conference this season.

Defense.

Sophomore Taden King scored 29 points and sophomore Julius Mims scored 20 of his 26 in the second half for the Cardinals in a 86-69 win over Olympic in an NWAC Crossover tournament game at The Arena in Post Falls.

Mims also had 11 rebounds for NIC, which scored 126 points in Friday's win over Southwestern Oregon.

“The first half was a little sketchy with Julius getting into foul trouble,” NIC coach Corey Symons said. “But he really sparked us in the second half and Taden shot 7 of 11 from the 3-point line, so they really carried us in the second half.”

NIC led 37-28 at halftime, but held Olympic (2-6) to 11 of 39 shooting in the first half.

“We played solid, team defense,” Symons said. “We’ve been scoring the ball pretty easily and we were bound to have a game where we didn’t score that easily. But our defense kept us in it and put it away for us.”

NIC (11-0), the top-ranked team in the latest conference poll, hosts Green River today at 2 p.m. to conclude the tournament.

OLYMPIC

Naysean Baisy 7-16 5-10 19, Wayne Jamison 5-17 1-1 12, Maurice Green 2-8 0-0 5, Colby White 5-14 1-1 13, Barreon Holland 2-6 0-0 4, Ahmir Paden 0-0 0-0 0, Owen Cross 2-5 0-0 6, Tyriq Nance 4-7 1-2 10, Maalik Siegel 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-73 3-5 69.

NORTH IDAHO

Julius Mims 10-18 2-6 26, Xavier Bailey 0-2 0-0 0, Cobi Campbell 3-5 3-4 10, Brendan Johnson 4-10 0-0 11, Taden King 10-14 2-3 29, Vanti Erving 0-1 0-0 0, Jeremiah Sibley 2-5 2-4 6, Kamryn Thomas 0-0 1-2 1, Phil Holmes 1-1 0-2 3. Totals 30-56 10-21 86.

Halftime — NIC 37-28. 3-point goals — Oly 12-33 (Baisy 5-10, Jamison 1-3, Green 1-5, White 2-8, Cross 2-5, Nance 1-2), NIC 16-31 (Mims 4-6, Campbell 1-3, Johnson 3-6, King 7-11, Erving 0-1, Sibley 0-3, Holmes 1-1). Rebounds — Oly 34 (Jamison 7), NIC 35 (Mims 11). Assists — Oly 7 (three with 2), NIC 19 (Johnson 7). Team fouls — Oly 18, NIC 17. Fouled out — Baisy, Bailey.

• WOMEN

Northwest Indian 72

North Idaho 66

CENTRALIA, Wash. — Sophomore Paige Beem shot 9 of 9 from the field and scored 20 points for the Cardinals, who fell to the Eagles in the NWAC Crossover tournament Centralia College.

Freshman Solei Elletson scored 18 points for NIC, which finished 25 of 70 shooting.

Nayha Mills scored 21 points for Northwest Indian College, a community college in Bellingham, Wash.

NIC concludes the tournament against Linn-Benton today in Centralia.

NORTH IDAHO

Katie Blume 3-13 0-0 7, Solei Elletson 6-15 1-2 18, Addie Kiefer 0-5 5-6 5, Paige Beem 9-9 2-2 20, Kaylee Banks 2-3 0-0 5, Laney Smith 1-7 0-0 2, Sorrel Aldendorf 0-5 1-4 1, Adior Juang 2-4 0-2 4, Meghan Calley 0-0 0-0 0, Cami Harris 2-7 0-0 4. Totals 25-70 9-16 66.

NORTHWEST INDIAN COLLEGE

Nayha Mills 7-18 4-4 21, Sara Wolgemuth 2-5 0-0 7, Wiwnu Mills 2-6 3-4 7, T’Mesh Mill 5-8 2-3 12, Imani Bighorn 10-13 0-1 20, G’mewiin Mills 1-5 0-0 2, Sukwana Quasula 1-2 0-0 3, Josephine Badoni 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-57 5-13 72.

North Idaho 22 14 19 11 — 66

NW Indian 14 25 13 20 — 72

3-point goals — NIC 7-30 (Blume 1-5, Elletson 5-12, Kiefer 0-1, Banks 1-4, Smith 0-2, Aldendorf 0-2, Harris 0-4), NWI 5-13 (Mills 3-9, Wolgemuth 1-2, Quasula 1-2). Rebounds — NIC 44 (Beem 12), NWI 33 (Bighorn 13). Assists — NIC 7 (Banks, Harris 2), NWI 10 (Mills 4). Team fouls — NIC 15, NWI 13. Fouled out — none.