THE FRONT ROW with JASON ELLIOTT: Rivals, with a little more to play for this time

Rivalries will be renewed, and someone is going to take a step ahead by the end of the night tonight. 

Whether it’s close to home or a little bit of a drive, it will be a day some fans dream about. 

THIS AFTERNOON, area basketball fans will be treated to the second matchup between the North Idaho College men’s basketball team and rival College of Southern Idaho at NIC's Rolly Williams Court at 3 p.m.

CSI beat NIC 79-70 in the championship game of the Battle for the Boot tournament on Nov. 8 in Twin Falls. 

CSI (14-1) is ranked 13th in the NJCAA and leads the Scenic West Athletic Conference in scoring defense, allowing 64.2 points per game. The Golden Eagles are fourth in scoring at 81.2 points per game, while NIC is right behind at 79.1 points per game. 

The Cardinals (10-5) are fourth in scoring defense at 74.5 points per game. 

The fortunate thing is that the teams will play two more times, at Twin Falls on Feb. 7, then back at Rolly Williams Court on Feb. 21. 

Today will mark the first time that NIC and CSI have met in women’s basketball this season. 

“CSI, they’re a darn good team,” said NIC women’s basketball coach Nathan Covill after the Cardinals' game on Dec. 18 against Northwest College of Powell, Wyo., in Yuma, Ariz. “We need to figure a way to compete with them with the right lineup and mix of players and get our players in the right positions.” 

NIC went 3-4 in December, with home wins over Miles Community College of Miles City, Mont., Blue Mountain Community College of Pendleton, Ore., and Dawson Community College of Glendive, Mont. 

“We’re still trying to find our identity and (the Northwest game) was a step back,” Covill said. “We’ll have to regroup and see if we can’t attack conference with some more vigor and juice to compete at that consistent basis we’ve been looking for.” 

CSI (14-1) is ranked 10th in the latest NJCAA women’s poll and leads the conference in scoring at 77 points per game. NIC (5-8) is fifth at 60.8 per game. 

“We’ve got to get them to buy into being a team and learn to trust each other,” Covill said. “As coaches, in any sport, whether it’s basketball, football or baseball, coaches only have so much control on things. And that’s where we’ve been at. We’ve played some good teams and came up short. We’ve got nowhere to go but up from here. We’ve got to take care of the ball, and that’s been an issue, and we’ve got to shoot the ball better from the 3-point line. We’ve got to have someone step up and knock those shots down.”

NIC beat CSI 66-61 in the last women’s matchup in Coeur d’Alene on Feb. 8, 2025. 

"We'll have to get tougher on defense and defend a little harder one-on-one," Covill said. "We've worked on those things, but we'll see what we're made of on Saturday."

The Cardinal men took two of three from the Golden Eagles during the regular season last year, then CSI won 92-91 in the opening round of the Region 18 Tournament last March in Ephraim, Utah. 

Sure, it’s still early for the team that drops this matchup. 

But that’s something to worry about later. 

SAY WHAT you will about the powers that be in the NFL, they really didn’t do the Seahawks or 49ers a lot of favors putting their regular season finale tonight at 5 instead of Sunday. 

San Francisco played on Sunday night, at home, against Chicago. 

Seattle hit the road last week, beating Carolina in Charlotte, N.C., then flew home, only to jump on a plane and head to San Jose this weekend. 

Sure, there’s a ton riding on this game, with the winner getting a bye into the NFC playoffs. Should San Francisco win, the 49ers wouldn’t have to travel again the remainder of the season. 

If Seattle wins, the Seahawks get to play at Lumen Field, a place that has almost been automatic for the home team in the playoffs. 

Both teams have injuries, but neither will make excuses for those. 

And yes, both teams are tired right now. They’ve each played 16 games and nobody is totally healthy anymore. 

Win tonight, and at least you can try to get a step ahead. 

If that really matters anymore. 

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for The Press. He can be reached by telephone at 208-664-8176, Ext. 1206 or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on ‘X’, formerly Twitter @JECdAPress.