COEUR d’ALENE — From here, it’s going to get tougher for the Cardinals. 

On Saturday, North Idaho College made it plenty tough on visiting Yakima Valley. 

Sophomore Kylani Rookstool had 14 points and nine rebounds for the Cardinals, who beat the Yaks 75-44 at Rolly Williams Court. 

“Our main goal of late has been to continue to get better defensively,” said NIC coach Nathan Covill, whose team limited Yakima Valley to 12 of 58 shooting. “We’ve made some tremendous strides in our last four games. Now, we need to take that into Arizona and the conference schedule and get ready to play some seriously good talent.” 

NIC faces Mesa on Dec. 28 in the Aztec Holiday Classic at Pima Community College. 

“There’s no easy teams in that tournament,” Covill said. “They’re all very skilled and physically talented. I’m excited to see where it goes in Arizona.” 

Esmeralda Galindo had 12 points and eight rebounds, Emmalee Secrest 10 points and three rebounds for NIC (7-4). 

Madisen King and former Wallace High star Britany Phillips scored 13 points each for Yakima Valley (5-7). 

YAKIMA VALLEY
Abby Gilbert 4-12 0-0 10, Clarissa Schrock 1-6 0-0 2, Britany Phillips 1-12 11-13 13, Madisen King 4-16 5-8 13, Mikayla Christiansen 2-6 0-2 4, Sofia Alvarado 0-0 0-0 0, Jada Mendoza 0-6 2-2 2. Totals 12-58 18-25 44. 

NORTH IDAHO 

Chloe Collin 3-7 0-0 6, Kylani Rookstool 5-14 4-4 14, Emmalee Secrest 4-9 2-2 10, Iratxe Amorrortu 2-4 0-0 5, Summer Faleafa 2-5 0-0 5, Tiarnee Smith 2-7 2-2 6, Larkin Christiansen 1-2 0-0 2, Esmeralda Galindo 5-11 1-2 12, Ripeka Edwards 2-5 0-0 4, Molly Axell 3-7 0-0 7, Tayler Adams 1-3 2-2 4. Totals 30-73 11-12 75. 

Yakima Valley    4    15    17    8    —    44 

North Idaho    18    19    14    24    —    75 

3-point goals — YVC 2-16 (Gilbert 2-4, Schrock 0-3, Phillips 0-6, Mendoza 0-3), NIC 4-23 (Collin 0-1, Rookstool 0-5, Secrest 0-3, Amorrortu 1-2, Faleafa 1-3, Smith 0-2, Galindo 1-3, Axell 1-4). Rebounds — YVC 27 (Christiansen 7), NIC 52 (Rookstool 9). Assists — YVC 0, NIC 13 (Amorrortu, Galindo 3). Team fouls — YVC 16, NIC 20. Fouled out — none.