THE FRONT ROW with JASON ELLIOTT: These Cards deserve more than a win

If you want to get a good idea what a rivalry matchup is supposed to look like, take a look at the photos from last Friday’s Fight for the Fish spirit basketball games between Coeur d’Alene and Lake City high schools.

It’s loud. 

Fans are into each and every moment. 

Sometimes, you can’t think. 

SOMETIMES IT is a little difficult in this area to find a perfect time to play a game. 

Most fans are glued to the Gonzaga men’s and women’s basketball team, so if either is on TV, that has been appointment viewing in recent years. 

Maybe that’s why it was more than noticeable that some fans missed out on the Scenic West Athletic Conference opener between the visiting College of Southern Idaho and North Idaho College at Rolly Williams Court. 

Not so long ago, games between the schools wound up determining seeding to the Region 18 Tournament, or even the national tournament in some cases. 

CSI entered the women’s game ranked 10th in the nation. CSI was ranked 14th in the men’s poll. 

NIC is still finding its way at the national level after having that brief stint in the regionally based Northwest Athletic Conference for seven years before moving back in all sports for the 2024-25 school year. 

Sure, there’s been some growing pains, and it takes time to get the right mix of players on campus. 

That’s still what the coaches are working toward. 

Within the past year, NIC had to shut down its men's and women's golf program — one of the more successful programs in the Cardinals' time in the NWAC — to help save money to make ends meet for the rest of the athletic department.  

Keep in mind, as the rules with college sports change, and the chances for some players to actually make money on their name, image and likeness, it’s just different now. 

If a player has a good season, often times there’s another school just waiting to swoop in and offer them more than a certain school can provide. 

Playing in front of half-empty gyms certainly isn’t going to help with anything. 

LATER TODAY, NIC hosts Snow in some key Scenic West Athletic Conference games. 

Both NIC and Snow enter the game 1-3 in the women’s standings, with only the top four advancing to the Region 18 Tournament at the site of the conference champion. 

The Cardinals have continued to get contributions from everyone their roster, which has a handful of freshmen playing key minutes. 

“Both Liv (Whitemarsh) and Sari (Murphy) have had some really good practices this week, but we haven’t put a full game together yet,” NIC women’s basketball coach Nathan Covill said. “Tomorrow’s a new day and we’ll see how that works.” 

Snow went 1-2 against NIC last season and beat the Cardinals in the first round of the Region 18 Tournament last season in Twin Falls. 

“They’re really good and Lala Baldwin (No. 21) is really dang good,” Covill said. “They’ve got some good players and they’ve always given us some fits. To get where we want to be, we’ve got to figure out how to beat teams like Utah State-Eastern and Snow. We played so well (Thursday) and did everything we could to get a win. But we just didn’t score when we needed to. We’ve got to find a way to score some baskets and start winning some games.”. 

At 3 p.m., the Cardinal men will entertain the Badgers, ranked No. 1 in the NJCAA.

Snow (18-1, 3-1 SWAC) has won three straight against the Cardinal men (11-8, 1-3), the longest streak since 2008 between the teams. 

NIC last beat Snow 74-69 on Feb. 15, 2024 in Ephraim, Utah. 

NIC coach Corey Symons is expected to miss today’s game after being ejected in the final moments of Thursday’s game against Utah State-Eastern. 

“Our guys will bounce back and we’ll get them ready to go,” Symons said. “Hopefully we can make some things happen on Saturday.” 

Stranger things have happened with a crowd that gets into the game. 

Hopefully we’ll find that out.

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.