Lc Not Hurting Despite Star’s Injury

Basketball

It sounds like an oxymoron: Timely injury.

But that’s what Lake City High School boys basketball coach Jim Winger hopes is the case with Jon Chatfield, his leading scorer.

Chatfield, who leads all North Idaho players in scoring (24.3 points per game), missed LC’s 67-53 Inland Empire League win over Coeur d’Alene last Friday. He will sit out a home IEL game Friday against Lewiston and will probably miss two more games.

The earliest the transfer from Kootenai could return is an IEL game at Post Falls on Jan. 27, Winger said.

“(The injury) happened at probably the best time in our schedule,” Winger said.

Chatfield noticed a sharp pain in his right foot late in practice last Wednesday. After a night’s rest, he said the pain persisted.

Winger didn’t waste any time. Chatfield went to a doctor Thursday afternoon and an X-ray revealed the early stages of a stress fracture.

Chatfield’s injury was the best-kept secret in town last week. Winger didn’t tell his players of Chatfield’s status until Friday afternoon, fearing that news of the injury would find its way across town.

CdA players and coaches didn’t learn about the injury until an hour before the game.

“It’s most important to have him healthy at (regionals),” Winger said. “We’re still a good team without him. I think people saw that against Coeur d’Alene.”

In Chatfield’s absence, several players picked up the slack against the Vikings.

Most notably was 6-foot-5 senior wing Scott Hoover, who poured in a career-high 27 points and had 14 rebounds.

“The injury could be a blessing in disguise; it could make us a better team overall,” Hoover said.

Boys games

The Lewiston-Lake City game will feature the early IEL leaders.

Lewiston is 2-0 (5-7 overall) after opening league with victories at home, and the Bengals appear to have a new lease on their season after going 3-7 in the first half of the year.

Lake City (3-0, 10-3), ranked second in the state, has won 11 straight games at home dating to last season and is 6-0 in league games at home since the school opened last year.

Winger isn’t surprised by Lewiston’s turnaround.

“I’ve always had a tremendous amount of respect for Dick (Richel, Lewiston coach) and his teams,” Winger said. “But I think we’re more athletic than Lewiston and we’ll try to use that to our advantage.”

In another league game Friday, Sandpoint (5-9, 0-2) visits Post Falls (6-5, 1-1).

Coeur d’Alene (6-7, 0-3) has the off week in league. But the Viks will be busy beginning tonight with a non-league game at home against Bonners Ferry (6-5). CdA travels to Moscow (10-2) on Friday.

Girls games

IEL teams conclude play this week and begin postseason action next week, while IML and North Star League teams have one more week of league games to contest.

While the top seeds are set for the IEL’s Region I Tournament next week, there are some matters yet to be settled.

League champion Sandpoint (14-2, 6-0) and runner-up Lake City (11-6, 5-2) will play host to first-round games next Thursday, with Sandpoint taking on the No. 4-5 loser-out playoff survivor and LC meeting the No. 3 seed. Which teams they’ll play could be determined tonight when LC visits Lewiston (9-8, 3-4) and Post Falls (11-7, 3-4) treks to Sandpoint.

Coeur d’Alene (4-15, 0-7) finishes the regular season Saturday when it entertains Sandpoint. CdA will travel to the No. 4 seed on Tuesday in a loser-out playoff.

As far as LC coach Dave Stockwell is concerned, the postseason begins tonight for the defending state champion Timberwolves.

“We can’t lose the rest of the way out,” Stockwell said. “We don’t want to lose (at regionals). From here on out we’re in a must-win situation. We don’t want to take the back door to state.”

In the IML, meanwhile, top-ranked Moscow (17-1, 8-0), which has won 17 straight since a season-opening loss to Lake City, can clinch a league title with a win Saturday over visiting Bonners Ferry (11-5, 6-1).

Girls polls

The state’s sportswriters and broadcasters broke last week’s tie for first in the A-2 rankings in the next-to-last polls of the season.

Moscow was given six of nine first-place votes, while Sugar-Salem received three votes for first and dropped into second.

Borah (A-1), Glenns Ferry (A-3) and Nampa Christian (A-4) remained in first in their respective rankings.

Following Borah were Blackfoot, Highland, Sandpoint and Centennial, which replaced Boise at fifth.

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