Holiday Tournament Action with Central Minnesota Conference teams, **District 5AA-20 Standings as of 1/1/2007, Schedule for This Week's Action

In boys basketball action, the Rockford Rockets played in the Sauk Rapids-Rice tourament last week as one of the favorites going in. They wrapped two wins around a disappointing 62-47 loss in the semi-finals to Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop. They defeated Chatfield and Benson (87-74) and sit at 6-2 after a 4-0 start to their season. G-F-W was undefeated until losing in the championship 55-46 to #3-Class AA ranked Pequot Lakes team (8-0).

Maple Lake is 3-5, their last game a loss to Eden Valley-Watkins (68-64) on December 19. Their three wins are over Class A teams (St. John's Prep, Holy Trinity, and Royalton). Eden Valley-Watkins is 4-0, with their last game being the win over Maple Lake.

The Pierz Pioneers squad is 5-1 after going 3-0 at the St.Cloud Cathedral Crusaders Classic, pounding on Sauk Centre 64-42 in the championship game. The Pioneers only loss is to Braham, in their season opener.

Holdingford is 8-2, including 3 wins over Prairie Conference teams, their last game a 53-51 loss at Pierz on December 21.

Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted is 3-4, after hosting their own tournament last week in which they went 2-1, with a semi-final loss to a good Class A team, Southwest Christian (5-3), a Metro-Area private school. The Lakers narrowly defeated a 2-6 Dassel Cokato team 61-60 in the third-place game. They and our own Jaguars basketball team have not played a CMC game yet.

The Kimball Cubs, hoping to improve on last season in which they finished with one win, sits at 1-4 after participating in the Lester Prairie tournament last week. At that tournament they picked up their only win of the season, 68-67, over the host Bulldogs team (7-1). The Cubs are vastly improved over last season, with two close losses to solid teams from Paynesville (58-48) and Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City (54-51) to start their season. They, too, have not yet played a CMC game.

Sub-Section 5AA-20 Boys Standings:

Eden Valley-Watkins (4-0)

Paynesville (5-1)

New London-Spicer (5-3)

St.Cloud Cathedral (2-6)

Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted (3-4)

Maple Lake (3-5)

B-B-E (1-4)

Kimball (1-4)

Girls Basketball Action with CMC and Section 5AA teams

Eden Valley-Watkins is 5-3 after a 78-68 win over Class AAA Buffalo last week. Sophomore Hannah Linz scored 33 points, and senior Megan Stommes added 16 points. The Eagles were losing 40-33 at halftime before outscoring the Bison a whopping 45-28 in the second half.

The Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted Lakers made the long trip to Crookston last week for a Holiday tournament which included the #1-ranked Class AA team, Crookston. The Lakers were mauled in their first game to then-undefeated Ada-Borup 55-38. Ada-Borup (7-1) would go on to face Crookston (8-0) and lost 55-46. In the second game HL-W-W lost 63-54 to the Hawley Nuggets (6-2) and will enter the new year with a 7-3 record.

Holdingford, who will host our Lady Jaguars basketball team on Thursday January 4, is 3-5 after going 0-2 at a Holiday tournament at Fergus Falls last week. The Huskers lost 62-43 to Class AAA Fergus Falls and 76-30 to a powerful Barnesville team (7-4). The Huskers were outscored 40-15 against Barnesville in the second half.

Pierz is 7-2 after going 1-1 in their own Holiday tournament last week, losing to a 5-2 Crosby-Ironton team in the championship game.

Rockford is 5-3, their last loss being a 43-39 loss to Blake (6-6)in a Metro-Area tournament last week.

Maple Lake is 4-4, with their last game being a 69-57 loss to Eden Valley-Watkins on December 19.

Kimball is 2-7.

Sub-Section 5AA-20 Girls Standings (ranked roughly in top-to-bottom order):

New London-Spicer (8-2)

Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted (7-3)

Eden Valley-Watkins (5-3)

Maple Lake (4-4)

St.Cloud Cathedral (4-6)

B-B-E (2-4)

Paynesville (1-6)

Kimball (2-7)

Lady Jaguar Basketball schedule:
The Lady Jaguars basketball team travels to Holdingford on Thursday, January 4, for their third Central Minnesota Conference game of the season. Two days later they travel to Swanville for a girls/boys double-header (girls tip-off at 2:00pm) with the Bulldogs, including the Jaguars boys basketball team. Next Tuesday, January 9, they host two-time defending conference champion Eden Valley-Watkins at the elementary school in the biggest conference game on their schedule. (Hint to fans: be there!)

Jaguar Basketball schedule:

The Jaguars basketball team travels to Kimball on Friday, January 5, for their Central Minnesota Conference opener. They play less than 24 hours later at the Swanville High School against a good 5-2 Bulldogs team, which will provide a good test for our Jaguars. They have a small break in action after that game until Thursday, January 11, when they host the Holdingford Huskers at the high school.

Jaguar Wrestling schedule:

The Jaguars wrestling team hosts their annual Jaguar Invite on Friday, January 5, at the high school starting at 3:30. Area Jaguar fans should make note to attend this big event as it will be the only home wrestling action until February 9. The wrestlers travel to Lac qui Parle Valley for a triangular on Friday, January 12, against the host Eagles and a very strong Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg team that went 7-1 in dual meets in December.

Lady Jaguar Danceline:

The Lady Jaguar danceline is preparing for the second meet of their season on Saturday, January 6, at Jefferson High School in Alexandria. The meet begins at 11:00am. Two days later on Monday they travel to Albany for a 7:00 meet. On Saturday, January 13, they will participate in a meet at New London-Spicer.