In 1997, the host Jaguars defeated undefeated NL-S 60-53 in overtime, led by Amanda Illies and Tracy Gerhardson (both married now but living in the B-B-E area). Tracy drained a 3' shot in the final seconds to force a 50-50 tie and move into overtime, where the Jaguars cleaned up on the visiting Wildcats by a 10-3 margin.
Fast forward to tonight...In the final 35 seconds, the Jaguars girls basketball team held on for this extremely incredible win, as they led 40-37 at that point. Then in the final 35 seconds, the Jaguars expanded the lead to 43-38.
The Jaguars had fallen behind by double-digits in the first half. Going into halftime, things did not look good.
(Much like in 1997 against NL-S, the Jaguars went into halftime down by 7, and fell behind by 14 before the second-half rally tied the game after regulation ended.)
The Eden Valley-Watkins Eagles (23-2 overall, 13-1 CMC) hadn't lost a game since December 2nd, when they lost at NL-S 58-57. They are the #1-seed in Sub-Section 5AA-North.
With tonight's big upset win, the Jaguars girls basketball team sets a new school record for the most wins in conference play. They end the regular season 17-8 overall (tied for the most regular-season wins in B-B-E girls basketball history) and 11-3 in the Central Minnesota Conference. The prior record for wins in a conference was 10-4, as recent as 1994-1995 in the old West Central South Conference.
The Jaguars boys basketball team won a low-scoring game at Sauk Centre 52-39. They improve to 19-4 overall. More will follow tomorrow. Sauk Centre has now lost four straight, falling to 9-13 overall. They are 5-9 in the West Central North Conference.
Other Central Minnesota Conference girls basketball scores from Friday night:
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 68, Rockford 51
Holdingford 58, Kimball 37
Pierz 66, Maple Lake 43
**Just saw this on Saturday at 9:30am... The Pierz Pioneers did a HUGE favor for the Jaguars boys basketball team last night, when they defeated previously first-place Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 82-76. The game was held in Howard Lake too!
This sets up some HUGE games for the Jaguars next week, when they host three CMC teams at the high school. I will post more about that over the weekend. The game to be at is on Tuesday night, when Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted comes to town for what will basically be the CMC Championship.
Other area girls basketball scores:
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 68, Rockford 51
Pierz 66, Maple Lake 43
Osakis 62, Melrose 29
West Central Area 64, Brandon-Evansville 62 (only B-E's 2nd loss of the year)
**Section 3A-North, First Round
Central Minnesota Christian 38, Renville County West 30
Dawson-Boyd 68, ECHO Charter 34
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 63, Ortonville 51
Area boys basketball scores:
Pierz 82, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 76
Rockford 80, Holdingford 75 (unusually close)
Albany 82, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 59 (Albany may be zeroing in on a #1-seed in Sub-Section 6AA-East)
Benson 47, Montevideo 44 (A big win for Roger Lindahl's Braves)
Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 70, Hancock 62
Paynesville Area 62, BOLD 46 (Bulldogs are 9-5 in the West Central South)
West Central Area 67, Ulen-Hitterdal 36
**The NL-S Wildcats won 52-46 over the host Minnewaska Area Lakers girls basketball team in the Inter-Conference championship of the West Central Conference. The Wildcats are the #1-seed in Sub-Section 6AA-East. The Lakers are the #3-seed in Sub-Section 6AA-West.
**The Morris Area Tigers boys basketball team, who just broke into the Top 10 in Class AA for the state-rankings, defeated the visiting NL-S Wildcats 56-53 in a very tough, physical game held in Morris tonight. The Wildcats led 30-25 at halftime.
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