4A champs ailing

The road to defending its Class 4A championship has gotten rather slippery for Hopkins.

Considered by some at the start of the season to be the best collection of talent the state has seen on one team, the Royals have labored through a rash of recent injuries.

Coach Brian Cosgriff said he is confident leading scorer Nia Coffey (15.6 points per game) will play in Hopkins' Section 6 opener on Wednesday at home against St. Louis Park. But the junior forward still is not at full strength because of a back injury. Coffey played in Hopkins' loss to Wayzata last week but was held out in the Royals' victory over Minnetonka two days later. Both those teams also are in Section 6.

The news is not so great for junior guard Mikaala Shackelford (10 ppg), who is done for the season because of an ACL injury.

"It's unnerving, no question about it," Cosgriff said. "It's been a great year, and no one can take that away from us. This is just part of the game. It takes some luck, we know that. In the years we've won it, we've stayed relatively healthy. It's the nature of the beast. You just don't know."

Unfamiliar territory

DeLaSalle carries a 22-3 record and the No. 1 seed into the Class 3A, Section 3 tournament. The Islanders open play as big favorites against Blake on Thursday at home. DeLaSalle defeated the Bears by 37 and 61 points during the regular season. The only other team in the section that the defending 3A champs have played this season is No. 4 seed St. Anthony Village, with the Islanders winning 78-65.

A possible section final opponent is No. 2 seed Totino-Grace. The Eagles are 15-2 in the 2012 portion of their schedule, with the only losses coming to a top-notch Benilde-St. Margaret's team and by one point against Chisago Lakes.

Primed and ready

In Class 2A, No. 1-ranked Providence Academy enters the Section 5 tournament with four losses, all to teams in a higher class. The Lions also have split two games with DeLaSalle and Lakeville North, and beaten Richfield and Bloomington Jefferson.

Hello, up there

A potential showdown of epic magnitude is on a crash course for Duluth. On one side of the Class 2A, Section 7 bracket is Braham's do-everything guard, Rebekah Dahlman. The junior is already over 3,000 career points. Looming as a potential March 8 section final date is Esko's Savanna Trapp, who stands a legitimate 6-8.