Women’s basketball clinches playoff berth in romp over Spokane

NIC women’s basketball clinched a playoff berth on the road in their 69-46 thrashing of Spokane Wednesday afternoon.

It was sophomore night for the struggling Sasquatch (4-11, 11-13), but the emotion of the final home game wasn’t enough to stop a Cards team hungry for the playoffs.

Alex Carlton watches Anna Schrade corral a loose ball that Carlton stole. The Cards came up with 13 steals in the victory, and their 10.9 steals per game is tied for the sixth most in the NWAC.

NIC found itself trailing only briefly in the first quarter. Down 10-12 with under four minutes left the Cards scored 11 points in a minute and a half offensive explosion to end the quarter up 21-12.

The rest of the game wasn’t much of a contest as Spokane couldn’t crack a ferocious NIC defense that forced 23 turnovers and held the Sasquatch to just 31 percent shooting from the field.

Demi Randall came up huge for the Cards and led the team in points with 14, while also coming up with a team-high four steals. Anna Schrade poured in 10 points on 4-5 shooting, and Halle Eborall came one point shy of a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds.

NIC secured at least the fourth and final playoff spot in the East region with the victory, but remains just one game behind third-place Wenatchee Valley and two games behind second-place Yakima Valley with two games left on the season. 

NIC (9-5, 15-10) returns home to play Yakima Valley (11-3, 21-6) on Saturday, Feb. 22 at 2 p.m. The Cards lost to Yakima Valley on the road earlier this season 63-70.