Tennessee Preps Will Attend Nic
Two Tennessee high school standouts have committed themselves to play for the North Idaho College men’s basketball team.
Johnny Goodman, from Brainerd High in Chattanooga, and Brad Fields of Science Hill High in Johnson City, committed after visiting NIC last weekend, their coaches said.
Both are 6-foot-5, athletic guards.
“They’re a lot alike,” said Johnson City coach George Pitts.
So are their averages: Fields, 17.5 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists; Goodman, 17.3 points, 6.2 rebounds, 4.1 assists.
As sophomores, Fields’ team beat Goodman’s in the state championship game. NIC coach Hugh Watson, previously a high school coach in Tennessee, tapped into his old stomping grounds.
“Hugh has coached several of my kids in the past. He’s a great person,” said Robert High, Goodman’s coach.
Goodman, the only four-year starter in Brainerd history, has made 74 of 137 3-pointers.
“He’s an all-around player,” High said. “He can shoot it anywhere in the gym.”
Fields started 3-1/2 years on teams that went 139-9 and won two state titles.
The two were recruited by numerous JC and four-year schools, but didn’t qualify academically, the coaches said.
The futures of Bo Johnson and Leonard Myles at NIC don’t look promising. The two reserve forwards recently were disciplined by Watson for poor classroom attendance.
They remain on scholarship. Their futures will be determined later, Watson said.
Prep softball
Senior pitcher Tina Smith, backed by an attack that generated 19 hits, held Lake City at bay Monday as Sandpoint swept an Inland Empire League softball doubleheader from the Timberwolves 6-1 and 10-0 in Coeur d’Alene.
Smith yielded seven hits in the opener and struck out five. Lindsay Herbert drove in LC’s run.
In the second game, Smith pitched a three-hitter and struck out three. Leah Free, who had a triple and scored a run on Bobbie Jo Jensen’s following double in the opener, had a two-run triple in Sandpoint’s five-run fifth in the second game.
Sandpoint, which made just two errors in the two games, benefited from nine Lake City miscues.
Golf
Trisha Einspahr, with a 1-over-par 73, led University of Idaho to the first-day lead in the DoubleTree Club/Lady Bronco Spring Invitational women’s golf tournament at Meridian, Idaho.
The Vandals have a one-stroke lead, 316-317, with Eastern Washington and Sacramento State tied for second place in the 10-team field.
Einspahr has a one-shot lead on Stephanie Long of Sac State. EWU leader is Shelly Russell in fifth with a 76.
The Manito contingent stole the thunder in the Athletic Round Table Pro-Am at Liberty Lake on Monday.
Assistant Mike Rorholm led the way with a 6-under-par 64 with his boss, head pro Steve Prugh, right behind him with a 65, and another aide, Scott Shagool, tied for fifth at 69.
Mike Elmore of Coeur d’Alene Golf Club had a 66 and Steve Nelke of Hangman Valley joined Shagool at 69s as five pros bettered Liberty’s par of 70.
, DataTimes MEMO: Changed in the Spokane edition