Jaguars girls basketball to open season Friday at Benson FibroMinn Invitational

Shannon Gruber, Lauren Anderson, and Julie Hieserich are shown in action on defense from a year ago - Sauk Herald file photo.

The Jaguars Girls Basketball team opens up the 2009-2010 season on the road at Benson on Friday and Saturday, at the FibroMinn Invitational. The Jaguars are two-time defending champions of this event. On Friday night, the Jaguars face MACCRAY at 6pm, with the host Braves playing Estherville (Iowa) in the nightcap. Estherville is just south of Jackson, Minnesota, a short stint south of the state border. (Total distance, 167 miles to Benson.)

This will be the first season since 1993-1994 that the Jaguars Girls Basketball will host games at the High School building in Belgrade. (That season, it was the Junior High building for the B-B-E system) The Jaguars' home opener is Thursday, December 10, against Ortonville.

The Jaguars enter the new season on the heels of two of the best regular seasons in team history. Cumulatively they are 36-19 overall in the last 2 years, including a 19-9 mark in the Central Minnesota Conference. Both seasons they finished in third place alone in the CMC, their best-ever placing in that league.

They set the regular season record in 2007-2008, when they went 17-9 before playoffs.

The Jaguars had 1-1 showings each of the last two seasons in Section 6AA, losing last season in a tough battle with eventual section champion New London-Spicer 50-39. NL-S went on to place third at the Class AA state tournament.

This year they are new members of Section 6A, where Hancock, Brandon-Evansville, and Parkers Prairie will all provide the top challenges for post-season action next March.

Top challengers for the Central Minnesota Conference crown this year will be Pierz, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted, and four-time defending champion Eden Valley-Watkins.

Seniors on the roster include Laura Johnson, Lauren Anderson, Rachel Anderson, and Shannon Gruber. Altogether the Jaguars have plenty of height on the front line to work with, as both Andersons and junior Maggie Gruber all stand at 6'1".

This Jaguars sports update, the first one of the 2009-2010 winter season, is brought to you by: