Cardinal athletics continue to ride wave of momentum as second round of play begins
On top of that, this year’s team has remained on top of the Scenic West Athletic Conference (SWAC) despite a 75-78 loss to Snow College in Ephriam, Utah on Jan. 28. The women are 6-1 in conference play and 17-3 overall.
“I can see how they are interacting and how they are getting along and doing stuff, like right now pulling together when they need to,” Carlson said. “We are on target as far as chemistry goes.”
The Lady Cards have been battling hard with the College of Eastern Utah and Snow College for the top rank in the SWAC since competition started last November.
The narrow home win on Jan. 14 against the College of Southern Idaho (CSI) put the women at the front of the pack and the women have been defending their first place hold ever since.
The Lady Cards’ 67-66 win against CSI boiled down to the last few minutes of gameplay before NIC emerged victorious. Free throws and fouls ended up being the deciding factor in the match.
Kate Buskey and Korina Baker each had a big night by both posting a 50 percent completion rate on 3-point attempts and 100 percent on free throws. Buskey made three out of six 3-pointers and converted three free throws. Baker made one out of two 3-pointers and converted two free throws.
“They definitely came out hard and they wanted to get us,” said freshman post Danika Johnson, 19. “It was good for us to come back and win a close game like that.”
In the CSI game, NIC was down 39-46 at one point before they came back for the win. The lead changed nine times during the game. Although the women are at the top of the conference, Carlson said that the team has narrowly made it through a couple matches.
“I’m afraid to say dominate but we are winning games,” Carlson said. “We have had two 1-point wins in our league and one 3-point win. Those are close games, so we are awfully close to being 2-3 [in conference play]. It’s a tough league.”
The Lady Cards have entered the second round out of three in conference play. They play CSI on their court Feb. 4 before returning home to play against Colorado Northwestern on Feb. 9 and College of Eastern Utah on Feb. 11.
