Rookstool, Faleafa shine late as Cardinals sweep rival CSI

COEUR d'ALENE — Shooters shoot, and when they get going, it's tough to stop. 

In the women's game, Rookstool hit a 3-pointer with 1:18 remaining to give NIC a 62-57 lead and freshman Summer Faleafa iced the game with a pair of free throws as the Cardinals (15-9, 7-3) beat the 21st-ranked Golden Eagles (18-7, 6-4) 66-61 to move into second place in the conference. 

"We'd prepared all week for this," Rookstool said. "Knowing that my teammates have my back and we've all got each other's back was really important. It was just a good, fun win. We were smiling and laughing, and it was important for the game." 

NIC's men and women remain home to face Colorado Northwestern on Thursday, then hosts Salt Lake next Saturday.

WOMEN: Falaefa and Rookstook hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give NIC 56-50 lead with 4:05 remaining. Freshman Chloe Colvin hit two free throws to extend the advantage to 64-58 with 18.6 remaining before CSI sophomore Kennedy Gillette, the former Sugar-Salem High star, hit a 3-pointer to trim the deficit to 64-61. 

"We're definitely underdogs and have been the entire season," Rookstool said. "It's pretty exciting to have teams scared to play us. I think we've come together and really stepped up for that mission." 

It was NIC's first win over CSI since a 90-57 win on Jan. 17, 2015. 

"It's super exciting," Rookstool said. "Even before this game, we weren't nervous, but excited. We just wanted to go attack them and take care of business. CSI played really good defense and their on-ball defense was really good. We were kind of giving it to them with our turnovers, but we've got to fix that for the next game." 

NIC limited CSI to 20-of-62 shooting, including 2 of 18 in the second quarter. 

"It benefited us that we had an entire week," NIC coach Nathan Covill said. "We watched a lot of film on CSI and watched them preparing for Snow because they played last week. When you get a chance to think about what you want to do, and I wasn't sure if my box, zone, back to press was the right call, but felt like our kids executed and it threw them off. Credit to the young ladies to sticking with the game plan and continuing to get better each day. I didn't do a good job preparing us for the Snow game, but I'm proud of the ladies." 

Rookstol finished with a game-high 21 points, freshman Esmeralda Galindo had 13 points, sophomore Iratxe Amorrortu and Faleafa seven each for NIC. 

"There's a lot of huge moments from different players tonight," Covill said. "Kylani is a kid that's a great teammate and great leader. She's not afraid of big moments and she's always striving to get better. She's the one I trust the most on the floor, and she hit some big shots in that fourth quarter and credit to hear, she wants to be that person and she showed she can be that person. Both her and Iratxe really calmed us in the first half when we didn't have Essie (Galindo)." 

NIC has won six of its last seven games since losing 71-61 at home to Salt Lake on Jan. 11. 

"They deserve this," Covill said. "They put themselves in a position, which set us up. Now we're split with Salt Lake and CSI, so the pressure is still on us to kind of continue to do what we do. We need to continue to get better. I always want to peak at the right time, and want to be playing our best in February and not December or January. Credit to these ladies. They just keep coming. I coach them hard and they respond. They're reaping the benefits of those things right now." 

Gillette led CSI with 16 points. 

"They were changing their defense at times, and we were a little slow recongnizing it," CSI coach Randy Rogers said. "It came down to missing shots, and we've been in a slump for about a month now. We just can't seem to make shots."

NIC and CSI will meet again on Feb. 22 in Twin Falls. 

Salt Lake (14-5, 7-2) leads the conference, followed by NIC and CSI.

"We've got to try to win our head-to-head," Rogers said. "We've got North at home and we were in a battle for an at-large to the national tournament. Now, we're in a battle to go to the conference tournament." 

SOUTHERN IDAHO 

Alina Sapilak 0-0 0-2 0, Kennedy Gillette 5-12 3-4 16, Mariah Mons 0-7 0-0 0, Samara Morrow 3-11 0-0 8, Ashley Garner 3-5 3-3 9, Chloe Jensen 0-3 1-2 1, Calyn Wood 0-1 0-0 0, Kayla Kasabuchi 2-4 2-2 7, Savannah Stoker 4-9 1-2 9, Falon Bedke 0-1 1-1 1, Kayla Porray 2-6 3-4 8, Macie Brown 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 20-62 14-20 61. 

NORTH IDAHO 

Chloe Collin 1-4 4-4 6, Kylani Rookstool 5-10 6-8 21, Esmeralda Galindo 5-14 2-4 13, Iratxe Amorrortu 3-6 0-2 7, Summer Faleafa 2-5 2-2 7, Tiarnee Smith 1-5 0-0 2, Ripeka Edwards 0-1 4-4 4, Molly Axell 1-1 0-0 3, Emmalee Secrest 0-1 0-0 0, Tayler Adams 1-1 1-2 3, Elisa Holakeituai 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-48 19-26 66. 

Southern Idaho    12    8    21    20    —    61 

North Idaho    8    15    23    20    —    66 

3-point goals — CSI 7-23 (Gillette 3-6, Mons 0-4, Morrow 2-4, Jensen 0-3, Wood 0-1, Kasabuchi 1-1, Porray 1-4), NIC 9-21 (Collin 0-1, Rookstool 5-8, Galindo 1-4, Amorrortu 1-4, Faleafa 1-2, Smith 0-1, Axell 1-1). Rebounds — CSI 43 (Gillette 9), NIC 24 (Faleafa 8). Assists — CSI 9 (Morrow, Kasabuchi 3), NIC 11 (Galindo 3). Team fouls — CSI 26, NIC 17. Fouled out — none.