WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
On the opening day of the Region 18 Basketball Tournament, two women’s teams advanced in the championship bracket. Eastern Utah defeated Colorado Northwestern 72-68 and tournament host Salt Lake Community College downed Southern Idaho 76-71.
Salt Lake trailed by four at halftime against CSI but clutch shooting in the second half ignited the Bruin offense. Salt Lake shot 48% in the second half and hit on 3-of-4 from behind the arc. Freshman Hayli Shurtz knocked down two key 3-pointers to stop any Southern Idaho comeback. The Eagles struggled from three point land, hitting on just 24% of their shots while shooting 34% from the field.
Salt Lake was led by Marissa Robbins with 17 points and seven rebounds along with Sofia Hepworth with 14 points. Mechela Barnes led Southern Idaho offensively with a game-high 24 points on 7-of-18 shooting and 3-of 8-from three.
On day two, top teams advanced to the Region 18 Championship game. Snow College defeated Eastern Utah 67-54 and Salt Lake upset top seeded North Idaho 66-61. Those victories set up the championship contest between Snow and SLCC.
Salt Lake shot 51% from the field in the game while holding North Idaho to just 39% shooting. Sofia Hepworth and Marissa Robbins led Salt Lake offensively, combining to score 45 points of the Bruins 66. Robbins finished with a season high 24 points on 8 of 10 shooting while Hepworth scored 21 points with eight rebounds. Korina Baker led North Idaho with 21 points.
The championship game saw two teams fighting to the finish for a chance to keep their seasons alive. The game saw seven ties and nine lead changes. Ultimately it was Snow College earning the right to keep playing at the NJCAA National Tournament as they defeated SLCC 60-57.
SLCC battled to the bitter end, shooting 48% from the field led by Marissa Robbins with 17 points. Sofia Hepworth scored 15 and Asha McDonnell added 10 points. Snow was led offensively by Danielle Lockhart with 16 points on 8-of-11 shooting and tournament MVP Erica Martinez with 14 points.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
In the men’s bracket on day two of the tournament, #2 seed North Idaho defeated tournament host SLCC 81-76 and #1 seed Southern Idaho escaped with a 68-65 win over Snow College.
The Cardinals of North Idaho shot a blistering 65% in the second half to defeat the Bruins. Keon Lewis led NIC with 21 points followed by Antonie Hosley with 19 points. For Salt Lake, Agustin Ambrosino scored a team high 16 points and Davis Emery added 10 points.
The following night, Southern Idaho defeated North Idaho 58-52 to claim the Region 18 title. CSI will head to a district playoff with the winner of Region 1, Arizona Western. The winner receives a spot in the National Junior College Athletic Association national tournament.
BASEBALL
The Salt Lake Community College Baseball team opened up home conference play with a doubleheader sweep of Colorado Northwestern on Friday. Salt Lake won game one by a score of 5-0 and took game two 4-1.
Tanner Banks stuck out 11 CNCC batters while allowing just three hits. Braden Anderson was 2-for-3 with three stolen bases, Steven Adam was 2-for-3 with an RBI and Bryan Heward knocked a solo home run.
Three pitchers combined for 11 strikeouts in game two, led by AJ Carman with five, while Aaron Robs and Dalton Gust finished with three strikeouts apiece. Dominique Taylor was 1-for-2 with a two-run home run and Matt Medina connected on a double.
The team finished the four game sweep of Colorado Northwestern with an 8-5 and 10-0 victories on Saturday. The Bruins are now 7-1 in conference play and 16-4 overall.
Rhett Parkinson got the game one win with a season-high nine strikeouts, allowing no hits over four innings of work. Salt Lake pitching finished the game with a season high 13 strikeouts. At the plate Bryan Heward was 3-for-3, Steven Adam went 2-of-4 with two RBIs and a triple. Braden Anderson was 1-for-3 with two runs driven home and a double.
In the final game of the series the SLCC bats combined for 13 hits and 10 runs. Dalton Gust was 2-for-3 with four RBIs and a two run home run. Dominique Taylor was 2-for-4 with a double, Adam picked up a triple with two RBIs and Anderson knocked his second extra base hit of the day with a triple going 2-for-4 in the game. Mike Springer, Chris Conran and Ruddy Acosta combined for the shutout with six strikeouts.
SOFTBALL
It was a tale of two games for SLCC softball as they defeated Snow 8-0 in game one and fell in game two 0-8 on Friday.
MaCauley Flint threw a shutout in game one, allowing just two hits with eight strikeouts. Malia Campos was 3-for-4 and Savannah Webster was 2-for-3 with a double. Lyndsey Healey and Meagan Nielson picked up pinch hit singles to drive home runs.
In game two, costly errors and quiet bats led to a 0-8 defeat. Ariel Zimmerman took the loss, allowing four hits with five strikeouts. Trina Gomez was 2-for-3 with a double and Savannah Webster was 1-for-2.
The Bruins added two more to the win column on Saturday with 3-1 and 8-2 defeats of Snow College in Ephraim, Utah. Salt Lake pitching combined to strike out 16 batters while only allowing six hits over 14 innings of play. The two wins move Salt Lake’s record to 25-6 overall and 16-4 in SWAC play.
MaCauley Flint controlled game one with a season-high 12 strikeouts. Two solo home runs by Savannah Webster and Mylee Davis put Salt Lake out in front while Maddy Woodard was 2-for-3. Flint contributed at the plate with a double.
In game two Snow jumped out to an early 2-0 lead but a pinch hit, bases loaded double by Meagan Nielson put the Bruins up 3-2. Ariel Zimmerman took over once Salt Lake had the lead, allowing just one hit over the next five innings, finishing with four strikeouts. At the plate Zimmerman was a perfect 4-for-4 with two doubles, Woodard was 2-for-4 with a double and Webster finished 1-for-2 with an RBI and a triple.
