Jaguars girls basketball wins at state-ranked Hancock 61-54, Boys defeat Holdingford on the road 78-51, Wrestlers pick up two dual wins in home Quad

The Jaguars girls basketball team improved to 14-7 overall, while also getting another winning streak going. They have now won three straight going into Friday night's home game against Rockford in a Central Minnesota Conference contest.

Rockford is currently 6-14 after a 61-49 win over Kimball on Tuesday night, while improving to 5-5 in the CMC.

The Jaguars boys basketball team buried Holdingford on the Huskers' court by a 78-51 margin. They improved to 7-1 in the CMC and 16-3 overall.

The Jaguars led 46-19 at halftime.

On Friday night, the boys travel to Kimball to face a dangerous Cubs team that is hovering just under .500 for the season at 7-9 overall. On Thursday night they defeated Eden Valley-Watkins (8-10) in Kimball 65-60. I label them "dangerous" as I feel they are a team capable of beating more talented teams, if they catch someone sleeping.

During their win over EV-W, Cubs junior forward Scott Nystrom drained 28 points, while also going 12-of-12 from the charity stripe. His 11th free throw was the 1,000th point of his varsity career at Kimball.

The Jaguars wrestling team picked up two important wins in their home quadrangular tonight. They beat Sauk Centre 34-33 and then Parkers Prairie 43-31. In the final dual, they fell to Paynesville 52-22. The win over Sauk was big as it pumps them up for team Section 5A playoffs, which begin next week.

In the other duals of the Quad, Paynesville beat Parkers 64-15. Sauk Centre came on strong and tagged Paynesville with a 37-24 loss while also defeating Parkers Prairie 57-15.

In other wrestling news, Eden Valley-Watkins won the Central Minnesota Conference title for 2008-2009. They wrapped up the CMC with a 36-28 win over Pierz and then a 48-19 win over Rockford. In the other dual of the EV-W triangular, Rockford defeated Pierz by a slim 40-39 margin.

More will be posted on Friday.

Area boys basketball scores:
Kimball 65, Eden Valley-Watkins 60
Howard Lake-Waverly-Win. 86, Maple Lake 57
Albany 57, Melrose Area 42
BOLD 57, Paynesville 56 (The Bulldogs' conference titles hopes were dashed by a game that was lost in the final second)
Swanville 69, St. John’s Prep 57
Royalton 65, Eagle Valley 54

Area girls basketball scores:
Holdingford 72, Pierz 56
Willmar 60, Little Falls 38
Mora 54, Albany 48 (A tough loss for the Huskies, as it essentially takes them out of the conference title race in the West Central Conference North)
Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 61, Foley 52
Sauk Centre 59, Milaca 42
New London-Spicer 61, Melrose 28