(Photo gallery) B-B-E vs. Kimball Area sub-section championship

Click...142 pictures inside the album:
http://saukherald.smugmug.com/2014-BBE-basketball-playoffs/Step-III-BBE-boysBBall-defeats

(Video) Final minutes of the Upsala win

Here's a video clip nearly 9 minutes long from Saturday night's Upsala win. It begins with about 70 seconds left in the game.


As that second half wore on, I was a complete nervous wreck! I had spent the last 8 seasons watching our girls' basketball team lose in the quarterfinals too many times, so to see them have a great chance to win a semifinal game was terribly exciting. In the last 9 years since winning the Sub-Section 5A-South championship in 2005, the Jaguars had lost twice in this semifinal round game (2008, 2009) as members of Section 6AA.

I knew all that was riding on this game, and it was thrilling to see the Jaguars turn it around in the closing minute to pick up the win. The Jaguars worked very hard to build what was a 16-point lead in the second half...and it shrunk to a 51-47 lead with 46 seconds to go. They did what they needed to and held off what was a hard-charging Upsala team by that point.

Make sure to make tracks to Pierz tomorrow night (Tuesday)!! The Jaguars girls' basketball team both wants and deserves all the support that Jaguar Country can muster. Game time for the sub-section championship is at 8:00pm.

LET'S KEEP IT GOING!

*SCOUTING report: Isle has five seniors on the roster, including two guards, a 5'7" forward, a 5"10" forward and a 5'9" forward. They have 2 juniors on the team plus five sophomores rounding things out. The Huskies are 26-2 overall and cracked the Top-10 state rankings in the final season poll, sitting at 10th. They went 14-2 in the Great River Conference to finish in second place behind Braham (24-4, 15-1), who will play Annandale in the Sub-Section 5AA-North championship.

The Huskies average 63.4 points a game while giving up just 34.1 points on the defensive end. Seniors Andrea Zimpel, McKenzie Blood and Cassie Walters are among their leading scorers.

Last season, Isle went 21-7 while finishing as runners-up in Sub-Section 5A-North. They defeated Upsala two seasons ago in the Section 5A championship by a 78-61 score and finished 25-6 overall with a first-round loss to eventual champion Maranatha Christian at state. In 2010-11, Isle went 24-5 and took second place in the sub-section.

The last time Isle didn't play in a sub-section championship game was in the 2009-10 season, when they finished 19-9 with a round-two loss to eventual state champion Barnum.

As good as their record is, I can't imagine they're any tougher than an Eden Valley-Watkins, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted or Sauk Centre. The Jaguars can play with them!!!

*Below, a link to read about the end of the regular season for Isle:
http://www.messagemedia.co/millelacs/sports/schools/article_146ffa84-a3b0-11e3-85ef-001a4bcf6878.html

State tournament T-shirts!!!!

Get yours today!!!

Sounds about right!!

State tournament Jaguar basketball T-shirts are on sale at the high school office. Get yours today! You can call and reserve one or a few and pay when you stop by Tuesday or Wednesday this week. These are one-of-a-kind T-shirts that you definitely need to get your hands on!

The T-shirts are ready for purchase and pick-up at the high school office. If you want, you can call the office (or e-mail Tessa) and reserve them before driving in and paying for them. We're down to just two days to prepare for state!!! It's coming fast.

(Photo gallery) Section 5A championship game in Alexandria

Click to view a gallery of 342 photos at the Sauk Centre Herald website:
http://saukherald.smugmug.com/2014-BBE-basketball-playoffs/Step-IV-BBE-wins-section-crown/

...and just for fun, check out this video from Halenbeck Hall at the SCSU campus on Saturday night:
http://huskiesports.blogspot.com/2014/03/game-winner.html

Access to that type of material is one perk to the job while I also operate the Albany Huskies sports blog and Mainstreeters sports blog on top of this one.

By the way, Tuesday night's game in Pierz for our Jaguars girls' basketball team will be carried by The Train and Smooth Magic radio. Although I hope instead of listening to them that you can make the trip in person and cheer on our girls!

Our radio crews are a good Plan B, though, allowing you to cheer from home and enjoy all the action.

Something special

Here's the shot good for Brian Goodwin's 1,999th and 2,000th career varsity points! This jumper made the score 16-8 in favor of the Jaguars vs. Browerville.

And click on this link to watch a video clip from Friday night's game.
http://saukherald.com/content/b-b-es-brian-goodwin-gets-past-2000-points

And...here's a very special treat for Jaguar fans: his first varsity points! (I almost forgot I had this) I had never seen any member of the Class of 2014 play basketball up until that night in Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City. I had seen many of those players in Youth Tackle football, 7th grade football and all sorts of summer baseball. Not one bit of basketball, though. When that "little freshmen" swiped the rebound and went coast-to-coast, I was definitely impressed as you can tell by my reaction. Little did I know what the players of that class would do from that point until now.

December 2010 video: Brian Goodwin's very first varsity game:


Here's the Sauk Centre Herald photo gallery from Friday night's game, with 342 photos:
http://saukherald.smugmug.com/2014-BBE-basketball-playoffs/Step-IV-BBE-wins-section-crown/

Did you know? Over one-fifth of the Class of 2014 are members of the B-B-E boys' basketball team. Yes, that's right, the class has just 41 members, and 9 are on the varsity roster for our state-tournament bound Jaguars. For all the accolades they're earning, it's important to note just how small the class is - as well as how closely-knit they are.

Have a great Monday!

Important State tournament information for Jaguar Country

The hardware earned in the last state tournament trip is shown on display at the Padua Pub during the 2011-12 team's awards banquet on April 3, 2012.

All fans interested in a spectator bus (students, adults) can sign up with Jodi Carda in the elementary office. Her phone number is 320-346-2278 extension 1218. To travel to Minneapolis on Thursday in a coach bus, the cost is $15 which does not include admission to the game. For a regular (yellow) school bus, adults pay $5 and students pay $3. Any student younger than 7th grade must have an adult accompany them.

**TICKETS: tickets for the state quarterfinal game cost $14 for adults and $9 for students. They are available at the elementary office as well.

**State basketball t-shirts: they're available at the high school office for $10 each.

NOTE: bus departure times will be posted as soon as that information is available. Keep in mind that the Thursday game starts at 11:00am in Minneapolis on the University of Minnesota campus. The bus likely would arrive there at 10:30am or earlier.

Also, if you are unable to attend the game, 106.5 FM The Train and 107.1 FM Smooth Magic 107 of Glenwood will be covering the entire state tournament for B-B-E.

Also, the Pep Fest and send-off for the team is on Wednesday at the high school gymnasium at about 10:20am.

Here's a blast from the past from 2012:
http://bbejaguars.blogspot.com/2012/03/more-scenes-from-state.html

(Video) Pre-game and tip off vs. Browerville

Click:


Who else hasn't caught up on sleep from the last few days of (exciting) madness and mayhem in Jaguar Country?

By the way, fan buses will be offered by the school (most likely in a joint effort with the local banks) for the Thursday state quarterfinal game in Minneapolis. Also, school will not be in session (K-12) on Thursday and then the same for Friday if the Jaguars beat Park Christian.

Once I know about fan bus offerings I'll post that information ASAP on Monday morning.

March Madness at B-B-E!

We've got spirit! Yes we do! We've got spirit! How about you?

The next two weeks could get really CRAZY! Crazy fun. Gotta love it.

Awesome! 4th grade boys' basketball Jaguars shine at NL-S

They had a lot to celebrate yesterday.

 In a tournament at New London-Spicer on Saturday, the 4th grade boys' basketball Jaguars, 12 players strong, took second place. They beat Lakeview and Albany in pool play before falling to Annandale in the title game. The success just adds to the excitement of March Madness in Jaguar Country! I can't help but think ahead and wonder if this group of players will put in the time and energy to the game of basketball just as 9 members of the Class of 2014 did. Wouldn't that be special!!!! It's nothing easy to ask of them or their families, but one thing is for sure: the path has been laid by our last 6 boys' basketball teams, all the younger kids have to do is follow it. The neat thing we have going is that we don't have to wonder what it takes to win a state championship. Been there, done that.

Why is Tuesday's game at 8?

In case you were wondering, the reason tip off is at 8:00pm that night between the Jaguars girls' basketball team and Isle is because of this thing we call township government. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Township_(United_States)

On Tuesday across Minnesota, township government units will be holding their annual elections. Because of that, high school athletic contests cannot begin until after polls close.

So during the day, if you live in rural areas and are 18 or older, exercise your civic responsibility and then head to Pierz!

Girls' basketball team headed to finals!

The players and coaches were extremely excited about getting a chance to earn another playoff win.

Katelyn Heinze (24) and Megan Weller (40) defend the paint during the final minutes of the first half when the Jaguars pulled away from the Cardinals with a late burst of offense.

For the first time since March 2005, the Jaguars girls' basketball team earned a trip to the sub-section finals after they beat second-seeded Upsala 55-47 tonight at Pierz. The Cardinals (16-12) gave the Jaguars all they wanted, but fortunately there was just enough offense in the final minutes to hold off Upsala's rally that narrowed a 45-30 deficit to 51-45 with just 98 seconds left in regulation.

Tip off is at 8:00pm on Tuesday night for the Sub-Section 5A-South championship, which will be aired on both 106.5 FM The Train of Norway Lake-Sunburg and Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood. Our opponent is top-seeded Isle, who holds a 26-2 overall record and beat up on Kimball Area 47-25 in the game preceding the Upsala game at Pierz.

I saw that Browerville (top seed in the North SS) beat Bertha-Hewitt 80-62 in their sub-section semi tonight at Wadena. In the other Sub-Section 5A-North semi, Verndale beat Pine-River Backus 63-40.

Here's more action from tonight's game, this from the second half:L


The Jaguars and Cardinals played through a back-and-forth first half up to the last 2 1/2 minutes. At that point, the B-B-E defense started humming, and that translated into key field goal shots off of the press. With 2:21 left, an Upsala free throw made it a 24-23 deficit, but Kinlee Swanson responded by scoring two layups in the next 17 seconds of the game. Megan Weller went 2-for-2 at the free throw line with 1:37 left, and later with 40 seconds to go Katelyn Heinze scored in a double team on the left block. Then with just 8 seconds to go, Weller knocked down an open 10-footer to give the Jaguars a 34-26 lead at the break.

In the second half, the Jaguars pulled away as the minutes ticked by. With 9:01 left, Swanson knocked down a jumper to give her team a big 45-29 lead. It goes without saying for anyone who was at the game that things didn't go too well from that point on for B-B-E. Luckily they did what was necessary in the final minute to end up winning with a comfortable 8-point margin. From the 9:01 mark up to under 3 minutes left, the Jaguars didn't hit a single field goal. Then with 2:38 left, Alex Evenson broke up the ice with a layup that made it 51-43.

I've got a ton of content to go through from tonight, plus I'm checking out video from the B-B-E robotics team's trip to Duluth and their fantastic finish of 14th place out of 55 teams. VERY COOL!!!

Oh and did I mention that the B-B-E speech team had an outstanding weekend as well? Now if only I had time to write about it and didn't need this thing called sleep in order to function.


Area girls' basketball playoff scores on March 8:
Staples-Motley 65, Melrose Area 32
Sauk Centre 49, Osakis 44 (Mainstreeters led 27-14 at halftime)
New London-Spicer 46, Minnewaska Area 32
West Central Area 37, Battle Lake 21
Eden Valley-Watkins 52, Litchfield 34
Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 40, #10-seeded Ashby 25 (Arrows Cinderella postseason ends)
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 66, Rockford Area 43

What's next for Jaguar fans?

Our Jaguars girls' basketball team plays at 8:00 next Tuesday in Pierz. BE THERE!!

Tight ball game!

83 seconds left first half...29 to 24 Jaguars up!!

At halftime: the Jaguars girls' basketball team has a 34-26 lead over #2-seeded Upsala. In the earlier game, Isle crushed Kimball Area to punch their ticket to the sub-section championship game.

Here's the final ticks of the first half!


I am having trouble authenticating for Youtube now, so I can't get video up until the game's over. Stay tuned for more score updates!!!

LET'S GO JAGUARS!!!!!

Also, Sauk Centre beat Osakis in Sub-Section 6AA-North girls' basketball action.

**Update: BBE 45, Upsala 36 with 5 minutes left.

FINAL: B-B-E 55, Upsala 47. The Jaguars (14-14) are bound for a sub-section final for the first time since 2005! That's 9 long years!! I am heading home!

Up next: Isle on Tuesday, March 11 at 8:00pm here at Pierz Healy high school.

Outstanding showing for Robotics team

After the 2nd and final day of competition the BBE Robotics team finished 14th out of 55 team in Duluth today. They're headed home.

By the way, 106.5 FM The Train will have tonight's game in Pierz. Tip off is at anywhere between 7:30 and 7:45 depending on how the first game goes. East Central and top-seeded Isle play at 6:00 also at Pierz.

Ouch: late in the first half, Melrose trails Staples-Motley 30-12.

(Video) Jaguars boys' basketball wins Section 5A!

Some exciting moments from last night!

Class A state seedings are in!

The Jaguars boys' basketball team opens state with Park Christian from Moorhead, champions of Section 6A. They play at Williams Arena in Minneapolis at 11:00am on Thursday. If the Jaguars win, they play the winner of the #4 Canby vs. #5 Fond du Lac quarterfinal game in the semifinals on Friday. If the Jaguars lose to Park Christian, it's all over. That's the end of our state tournament.

2014 Class A state tournament boys' basketball seedings:
1st - B-B-E
2nd - Maranatha Christian
3rd - Rushford-Peterson
4th - Canby
5th - Fond du Lac
6th - ACGC
7th - Red Lake Falls
8th - Park Christian (who beat Battle Lake out last night)

Here's some action from the second half of last night's game:
< video marked private >

I'm offline now until after 2:00pm. Have to get ready for a trip to Pierz, and that's no small feat!

Robotics update from Duluth!

After yesterday's round of competition our B-B-E robotics team is in 14th place out of 55 teams. Wow! Nice work!

You can watch the event live at daredevils2512.org. A live stream link as well as a match schedule are on the page. B-B-E's robotics team number 4238.

Jaguars light it up in Section 5A championship

Late in the game, the B-B-E crowd started to all get to their feet as the final minutes ticked off the clock.

Dalon Bitzan knocked down two free throws with 3:07 on the clock for a 77-46 lead.

In the closing minute, Zach Walz (44) and Brendon Loch (32) await a defensive rebound opportunity.

Coach Montbriand signals to the team captains to come get the trophy after the awards ceremony.

The top-ranked B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team avoided the upset bug that took out numerous highly-ranked Class A teams during March Madness after earning an 86-52 win over the top seed from Sub-Section 5A-North, the Browerville Tigers. They take a 28-1 record into the state tournament, while Browerville finishes a fine season 21-6 overall, including an 11-3 mark (2nd) in the Prairie Conference.

It was almost startling to hear the number of upsets that took place just in Class A on Saturday, starting with Battle Lake's shocking 62-59 loss to Park Christian. The Battlers tore apart just about every opponent this season on their way to earning a #2 ranking (just behind the Jaguars) in the state polls with a 27-0 record coming into the Section 6A championship. They trailed the whole game to PC.

Here's the list of teams ranked in the top 10 in the final Minnesota Basketball News poll who are not competing at the state tournament: Battle Lake (#2, lost section final), Mountain Lake Area (#4, lost sub-section final), Southwest MN Christian (#5, lost section final), Upsala (#6, lost sub-section semifinal), Ely (#7, lost sub-section final) and Dawson-Boyd (#8, lost sub-section final).

Mountain Lake Area finished 24-3 and lost to United South Central in the Sub-Section 2A-South championship game. USC then went on to defeat at the hands of Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City in the Section 2A championship on Saturday night at Minnesota State University-Mankato. The Falcons trailed 34-31 at halftime before winning 69-61 to advance to state with a 21-7 record. They went 9-6 in the imbalanced West Central South Conference to win that championship against all Class AA competition.

This is a little crazy...in Section 1A, Rushford-Peterson beat 19-11 Goodhue by a 38-31 score on Saturday night in Rochester. That would have been a fun game to watch, with two defenses basically smashing one another the entire game.

And in Section 3A, Canby is going to the state tournament for the first time in 63 years! 

I'm predicting the state seeds (top four) as: 1) B-B-E   2) Rushford-Peterson  3) Maranatha Christian  4) Canby  5) Red Lake

 

Step IV complete!! STATE will be GREAT!!

The seniors!!! They are a close-knit bunch. (And how about that photobomb by George Borgerding!)

The players are the kind of role models you want around your kids. Here's 2,000-point scorer Brian Goodwin with his adoring followers.

The team and the program's third section championship trophy!

Final score: B-B-E 85, Browerville 53! Time for awards!!!

Coach Montbriand said during part of his post-game radio interviews, "We're thrilled to take care of business tonight against a very good Browerville team. We feel that we belonged at state, and we knew we had to give it our best shot to advance."

The Jaguars open the state tournament on Thursday in Minneapolis. *Prediction: the Jaguars will get a number one seed and play at 11am Thursday in the state quarterfinals.

Who's not going to state: Southwest Minnesota Christian, Minneapolis North and Battle Lake.

Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City, Canby and Red Lake Falls are all IN the Class A state tournament. So is New London-Spicer in Class AA.

How about our crowd!!!!!!! Oh you have to love it!


Internet trouble at home. Grrrr!! Trying to get video up!! I have 377 photos from tonight. Whew!! Love it. I'm guessing Cheryl's got a few hundred herself. Very cool!

Holy cow! At 23:00 tonight I checked my hit counter...1,227 unique visitors here so far today! I haven't seen traffic at that level since last summer.

Boys' basketball section final scores across MN:
Park Christian 62, Battle Lake 59
New London-Spicer 70, Melrose Area 59
Maranatha Christian 67, Minneapolis North 65
A-C-GC 69, United South Central 61
Red Lake 70, Northern Freeze 67
Fond du Lac Ojibwe 77, South Ridge 60
Annandale 67, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 51

Big early lead

8 minutes to go first half: B-B-E 26, TIGERS 8. With 11:52 on the clock, Brian Goodwin knocked down a pullup shot from 15 feet out to put the Jaguars up 16-8. The shot got him to 2,000 points in his illustrious career.

Halftime: BBE 45, Tigers 22!

With 4 minutes to go, BBE 72, Browerville 44!

600+ fans!

Jaguar Country has over 600 fans here already, 40 minutes before tip off!!! The official capacity of Jefferson high school's gymnasium is approximately 2,200.

Roads look good!!

While I've been traveling far into eastern Minnesota this afternoon, I have had my ear close to the ground regarding road conditions in Stearns and Douglas counties.

I've heard no signs of poor driving conditions. I have family in the Alexandria area and they've gotten around just fine since around 1:00pm.

Did we cry 'wolf' when worrying about the roads today? Perhaps, but I am extremely thankful school officials were paying attention. Bravo, administrators!

By 5:00 I have the sense that rural gravel roads are the only real trouble spots.

LET'S FILL THE HOUSE TONIGHT JAGUAR COUNTRY!!!!

Game on!!!!

Okay Jaguar Country plan accordingly and figure out the car pools to Alexandria.

Call everyone you know and spread the word.  Reshare this blog online as you are able to. I have to get back on the road to stay on schedule. If my roads are reasonable I should be able to get to the game before tip off.

But seriously make some actual phone calls!

The B-B-E Pep Band departs the high school at 5:00 and the elementary school at 5:15 sharp!

Headed out

I will be traveling the rest of the day up to game time...stopping in Hinckley and then doing my best to get to Alexandria in time for the game. **I am assuming the game is on...this doesn't mean it is. That decision hasn't been made. But for me, family commitments come first and by all means trump any basketball game of any magnitude.

Decision coming soon

My guess is that a "yes" or "no" on the game will be announced before 1:00pm. As I stated in another article at the Sauk Centre Herald website, section officials have been in close contact with B-B-E and Browerville officials in regards to what will or will not happen tonight.

IN ANY EVENT please exercise caution if you travel today / tonight!!!!!!

In the mean time, check this out from 1.5 miles east of Brooten on Highway 55, video at 11:30am:

Two semis

Staff at the JKC at our elementary reported that two semis were in the ditch just out of town (Brooten) along Highway 55.

It's a mess out there.

Wrestling-related announcement

B-B-E Jaguar Wrestling Club needs your help please! We are hosting our NYWA District qualifier tomorrow (Sat. March 8) and are in need of table workers. If any HS student or adult would like to volunteer their time we would deeply appreciate it. You would need to be at the HS around 10 (wrestling starts at 10:30) and you would work until about 2 or so depending n how busy.... With the weather today we could be really busy if tournaments are cancelled tonight.

Contact information will be posted asap.

Contact Kristine Bents if you are able to help out. 

B-B-E is CLOSED today 3-7-14

Yes, stay tuned for more announcements. More information can be found at the Sauk Centre Herald link below regarding the status of the B-B-E vs. Browerville boys' basketball game. Please click below and also share the link as much as you are able to:

http://saukherald.com/articles/2014/03/07/weathergame-announcements-b-b-e

Another Monday off at B-B-E bites the dust...but from all accounts I've heard, the roads are absolutely horrible out there, even by 08:00 today. The five-day weeks will be really annoying, but it beats planning a funeral for a child or children. I have honestly lost track of what Mondays we have school. I do know that the next one is Monday, March 10. After the dust settles on today, I'll post the confirmed Monday-school-days next week.

At 08:41, from all accounts I'm seeing on Facebook, it appears that all hell is breaking loose across our area and across Jaguar Country. Based on reports from Facebook friends and where they live or where they work and have to drive to, western Stearns County seems especially hard hit by the ice.

Please be careful today! I do not want to write about you this weekend after reading a report from law enforcement about your accident!!!

It's really bad out there

If you have a teenage driver who plans to drive to school, put them on the bus or have every expectation for them to go in the ditch or worse.

That is my warning to you!!!

Two hours late, 3-7-14

B-B-E schools are 2 hours late on Friday, March 7. If the salt trucks are moving at a slow crawl, you know it's bad out. I saw that a system was moving across our area last night and just shook my head. I was not pleased by that. And now it's a reality.

Also 2 hours late today as of 05:51: Benson, Sauk Centre, Fergus Falls, Hancock, Holdingford, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle, Melrose Area, Minnewaska Area, Morris Area, Rocori, West Central Area.

I expect it to get better as the morning progresses! We have something special taking place tonight!! We need clear roads to track to Alexandria!!

I saw this account on Facebook:
In the Melrose hills, Stearns Co. #13 are NOW sanded...The sanding truck could not make it up, had to back-up with all the travelers off the side of the road so this task could be done. Others having difficulties, semi-trucks & milk trucks. He saw two vehicles in the ditch. It's a beast out there...____ traveled 23 m.p.h. top speed to get to work...Yes, he was late...but he was safe & made it. He also spoke to another person (on the road) who traveled State Hwy 287 from L.P. and there is someone already in the ditch out there.

Another Facebook account:
Traveling on the interstate Sauk to Cloud, 10 cars/semis in the ditch already and were not even to Albany. Were going 36 mph, I suggest you dive with caution, have zero distractions, a simple glance at your cell phone would be enough for you to end up in the ditch or injured. It may not even be worth it, make it a 3 day weekend! Best of luck and Safe travels. You've been warned!

Step I: Jaguar girls' basketball drubs Royalton

Hailey Braegelman (32), Alex Evenson and Ashley Trustheim are shown on defense for the Jaguars.

It was a fantastic night for the Jaguars girls' basketball team, who beat 6th-seeded Royalton 68-31 in the opening round of the playoffs. They improve to 13-14 overall, while the Royals finish 6-18. There was really no let up for the Jaguars defensively. They really hustled and put on a great show for what was about a 3/4-capacity crowd at the high school and were determined to never let Royalton get in the game. After giving up an early three in the second half, the Jaguars put the clamps down with a 16-0 run between the 16:30 mark and the 13:45 mark. Alex Evenson scored to make it 41-22, and she put the bookend on that run with a bucket on the block for a 55-22 lead. One of the most fantastic statistics about the second half was holding the Royals to just 12 points.

They now get either Upsala or Ogilvie. Updates to follow.

**Update: we get the Upsala Cardinals (16-11). They won 76-48. We play on Saturday at 7:30 in Pierz!! Start planning the car pools!! Upsala went 9-5 in the Prairie Conference to take fourth place. They are a formidable opponent. They have a handful of terrific guards with outstanding speed. From scouting reports I've gotten, they "hound" an opponent's ball carriers and swarm on defense all night. They will be a difficult team to beat. I also know that when our Jaguars are "on" they can play lights-out defense and get to the hole in a hurry for transition buckets.

The Central Minnesota Conference went 4-3 tonight in girls' basketball playoff openers.

Section 5A girls' basketball results on March 6:
Pine River-Backus 37, Menahga 33 (#3 North beats #6)
Verndale 70, Nevis 57 (#2 North beats #7)
Bertha-Hewitt 37, Parkers Prairie 33 (#5 North beats #4)
Browerville 75, Sebeka 60 (#1 North beats #9)
Upsala 76, Ogilvie 48 (#2 South beats #7)
Kimball Area 54, East Central 48 (#5 South beats #4)
Isle 55, Swanville 29 (#1 South beats #8)

Video from tonight:


Whew! Apple Valley lost 89-77 in double overtime to Cretin-Duram Hall in the Section 3AAAA championship game tonight.

And Melrose's girls beat Holdingford in overtime!

And Smooth Magic 107 FM (Glenwood) plus 106.5 FM The Train (Norway Lake-Sunburg) will be covering Friday night's game in Alexandria. At Pierz on Saturday night, The Train will make the trip. I am still confirming what D-Mac is able to do that day. D-Mac will be at the Osakis-vs-Sauk Centre girls' basketball game on Saturday in Collegeville, which starts at 6:00pm.

The B-B-E 6th grade Math Masters and Coach Montbriand and Coach Field.

I have results from the Math Masters competition in Sauk Rapids. The B-B-E 6th grade team took 13th place overall, while Grace Illies took 19th place overall individually with a first-place individual finish in the fact round. Great job!

OH MY! I am SHOCKED! A team that has been hyped and hyped all season long, Southwest Minnesota Christian boys' basketball, fell tonight in the Section 3A championship in Marshall. Second-seeded Canby (25-4) out of the North sub-section beat SW-MN Christian 66-59! Let me tell you, there was all kinds of chatter online saying that SW-MN Christian (25-3) was a lock for the state tournament. Nope, they'll be a spectator at state.

Area girls' basketball playoff results on March 6:
Sauk Centre 76, Pierz 52
Osakis 59, Pillager 20
Melrose Area 43, Holdingford 41 OT
Litchfield 55, Paynesville Area 36
Staples-Motley 68, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 33
Minnewaska Area 55, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 36
Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 57, Ortonville 46 (WHN was the #6 seed, Trojans were #3)
Battle Lake 49, Brandon/Evansville 35
New London-Spicer 72, Benson 33 (a rough year for Benson, who finished 0-26)
Henning 60, Ashby 54
Eden Valley-Watkins 59, St. John's Prep 35
West Central Area 56, Underwood 38
Braham 62, Maple Lake 47
Rockford Area 68, Breck 37

Jaguars doubling up Royals

At halftime the Jaguars girls' basketball team has a commanding 39-19 lead at halftime. We led 19-6 with 8:35 left after Peyton Miller drained two free throws.

By the way, the game is on The Train tonight!

With 14:22 left in the game, the Jaguars are up 51-22! With 13:45 left, it's B-B-E 55, Royalton 22.

Robotics!!!

Here's a glimpse of the robot from earlier in February during a work session.

The 2014 B-B-E Robotics team with two of their chaperones, loaded on the bus and ready for Duluth.

On January 4, the B-B-E Robotics team officially started their 2014 season at Staples (the town) at the First Robotics Competition Kickoff. At that event, the team found out the details on their upcoming competition.

Robotics coach Tom Gjerstad said, "This year's game is called Ariel Assist. Once we got our competition rules and details, we have six weeks to build a robot that can catch and throw an exercise ball."
To see other details of the competition, go to this Youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxp4dkMQ1Vo

Gjerstad added, "These brilliant young students have put in many hours to build the robot. On February 6, we had the drive system (wheels and motors) attached to the chassis. Since then we've gotten the launching mechanism completed and fine tuned the aiming mechanism."

In the last week, the ball-loading device was added plus the remainder of tasks before it was sealed in a box and ready for the trip to Duluth.

Today, Thursday, B-B-E's 18 robotics team students have been furiously busy assembling the robot's final pieces and running it through practice sessions.

Good luck to all of you! We are proud of your efforts in the Northland.