It is routine in the Three Rivers Conference. Boys and girls basketball teams typically play each other the same night, a home game for each school. East and west divisional foes Fillmore Central and Chatfield did so on January 14. Neither school holds complete bragging rights because each got a win. In Preston, Chatfield’s boys led early 14-5. Nineteen first half free throws got the Falcons back into the game, as they went ahead late in the first half 31-26. But Jeff DeBuhr’s Gophers ended the stanza 12-2 to lead 38-33 at intermission. Overall, Chatfield critically did yeoman’s work on the offensive glass with 28 offensive rebounds and 29 second chance points. That work allowed the Gophers to post a 78-65 win. Frosh Cole Johnson (career-high 23 pts, 7 rebs) led the way. Older brother Reid Johnson (16 pts, 6-6 FTs, 10 rebs, 4 stls) dealt with foul trouble. Inside guys David Castleberg (11 pts, 9 rebs) and Austin Koenigs (10 pts, 6 rebs) helped. Haidyn Gunderson (22 pts, 4-8 threes, 8-14 FGs, 9 rebs) led FC. Zach Haugerud (12 pts, 7 rebs) and Carson Kiehne (12 pts) helped. Each team (FC 19 of 29, Chatfield 21 of 34) spent a lot of time at the charity stripe. Chatfield improved to 1-6, 2-10. FC fell to 1-6, 3-10. Meanwhile, in Chatfield, the Falcon girls ran their win streak versus the Gophers to four. Levi Olstad’s group had a 9 of 9 field goal run latter in the first half to stoke a 36-18 halftime lead. They cruised to a 55-31 win. Seniors Kandace Sikkink (21 pts, 5-7 FGs, 11-17 FTs, 9 rebs, 4 stls) and Kassidy Broadwater (19 pts, 3-5 threes, 7-13 FGs, 6 rebs, 4 asts, 5 stls) were the Falcons’ two-girl show. Jaiden Zimmerman had a Gopher-high 7 points. Zayda Priebe had 6 (pts), 11 (rebs), and 3 (blks). FC improved to 6-2, 11-4. They’ve won four straight and seven of eight. The Falcons are in second place in the TRC-East behind Cotter (8-1, 15-3). Chatfield is 2-6, 6-9.
