Jaguar girls basketball beats Rockford 52-44 for 6th straight win - Jaguar boys wipe W/H-N off the court 87-49

Raeann Sorenson led the Jaguars tonight with 22 points and four threes.

With five minutes left, the Jaguars girls basketball team is leading Rockford 51-35 on the road. Update a few minutes later...the Rockets are threatening, and now trail 51-42.

The Jaguars won 52-44 to improve to 12-12 overall on the season. This is their third series sweep of the Rockets in the past four seasons. Sub-section seeding is tomorrow, and the Jaguars have now won six games in a row! Tonight they were led by junior Raeann Sorenson's 22 points. She connected on all four of her team's three pointers.

The CMC now has a three-way tie for first place, with three teams sitting at 9-4 in the loop after tonight's action. (See below) Those three teams just may all win out in the CMC and finish in a three-way tie for the league title. Rockford fell to 5-8 in the CMC and 9-15 overall with the loss.

Central Minnesota Conference girls basketball results on Feb. 22:
Eden Valley-Watkins 48, HL-W-W 33 (!)
Pierz 66, Kimball Area 29
Holdingford 52, Maple Lake 43

In a home game tonight on Parents' Night, the Jaguars boys basketball team made another big statement in Sub-Section 6A-South with an old-fashioned beat-down of Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 87-49. That is a real whipping! It is W/HN's worst loss of the season; they didn't even lose that bad to some of the North Dakota juggernauts who kept the Warriors on a five-game losing streak in December. The Jaguars opened up a 57-21 halftime lead tonight, with Kevin Kuefler draining 22 points and Brady Koehler 13 in the first frame. In the second half, the Jaguars still managed to score 30 points, with most starters seeing little action and the final frame, which progressed in running time the whole way.

The Jaguars are now 23-0 overall and really hitting high gear as the regular season winds down. The 23 wins ties the record for the most regular season wins in B-B-E school history. That record was set last season, when the Jaguars were 23-3 heading into the sub-section playoffs. This record means nothing, and I mean N O T H I N G, if they don't beat Pierz on Friday night and keep up the tempo heading into playoffs. Now is not the time for this team to lay an egg!

A score from out west, the Minnewaska Area Lakers boys basketball team is in a tough battle with neighboring sub-section rival West Central Area. They trailed for most of the game, and with 5:30 left, the Lakers pulled ahead on a rare four-point play 47-46.

Random boys basketball notes: Hillcrest Lutheran is struggling, and has now lost four if their past six games. The Little Eight Conference has a real race going on, with Battle Lake on top at 9-2, and HLA and Brandon/Evansville following at 8-3. Battle Lake hosts B/E on Friday night. Paynesville Area is 0-22 and will finish 0-23 this season after LQPV beats them on Friday night. B/E shot 57% (16-28) from the floor in a 48-40 win over HLA last night on the Chargers' home court; the Comets shot 28% from the field. Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta handed #8-ranked Montevideo its second straight loss by a 54-53 margin in Morris; the Thunderhawks' conference title hopes took a big dent. They now have to root for Roger Lindahl's Benson Braves to knock off Minnewaska on Friday night in Benson, in order for the Thunderhawks to have a shot at a tie.

Random girls basketball notes: With six minutes to go in the game, Hillcrest Lutheran Academy held a 47-44 lead over Parkers Prairie in Little Eight Conference girls basketball. The Panthers went on a 9-0 run and then closed out the game with good free throw shooting to defeat the Hillcrest Comets 58-50 on Tuesday night in Fergus Falls. The win handed the Little Eight Conference title to Parkers Prairie with an 11-1 record. Hillcrest and Underwood tied for second place with 9-3 marks. Underwood is 16-6 overall and has the third-best record in Sub-Section 6A-South. Paynesville Area is having their best girls basketball season since 2005-2006; they are 9-13 overall and 7-8 in the West Central South Conference. They should get a #6 seed in Sub-Section 6AA-East and will face either Albany or Pierz in the quarterfinals.

Area boys basketball results on Feb. 22:
Minnewaska Area 55, West Central Area 54
Redwood Valley 68, MACCRAY 57
Battle Lake 69, Parkers Prairie 53
Maple Lake 70, Milaca 67
Ashby 73, Underwood 66
Pierz 77, Staples-Motley 60
A-C-GC 75, Paynesville Area 67
Upsala 90, Osakis 67
Brandon/Evansville 49, Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 40
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 54, Montevideo 53 (!)
Melrose Area 70, Sauk Centre 55 (tough loss for the Streeters)

Area girls basketball results on Feb. 22:
Osakis 58, Browerville 21
Minneota 36, MACCRAY 28
Montevideo 43, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 31
New London-Spicer 47, Mora 33
A-C-GC 54, Paynesville Area 45
Barnesville 68, West Central Area 56
Sauk Centre 69, Melrose Area 38

Scores from games involving Sub-Section 6A-South teams on Feb. 22:
Parkers Prairie 58, Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 50
Hancock 60, Battle Lake 41
Underwood 65, New York Mills 34

This Jaguars sports update is brought to you by: