Jaguar girls' basketball gets #9 seed

The Jaguars girls' basketball team (5-20 overall) opens up the playoffs on Monday, Feb. 27 at #8-seed Battle Lake (11-13 overall) in a Sub-Section 6A-South play-in round game. Battle Lake is located northeast of Ashby approximately 17 miles. From the B-B-E High School, it's a 91-mile trip up Highway 71 and I-94 and then State Highway 78 from Ashby. Tip off is at 7:00 that night. All sub-section games begin at 7:00 until the semifinal round at UM-Morris on March 3.

And by the way, I tried mapping a shorter route (versus through Ashby) from Belgrade to Battle Lake, and I couldn't come up with one...even after consulting with Sauk Centre Herald publisher Dave Simpkins, who lives in southern Otter Tail County.

Also, I incorrectly reported earlier this week that the Train will be at the Ashby game (boys' BB) next Monday. They will cover the girls' basketball playoff opener...then go to Pierz the following night.

Sub-Section 6A-South is very tough, with 7 of the 11 teams having winning records and 8 of the 11 having 11 or more wins. The favorites are clearly Parkers Prairie (23-1) and Hancock (19-3).

The rankings were determined according to the QRF formula on the Minnesota-Scores.net website. In some sub-sections across Minnesota, coaches still voted to determine the playoff brackets.

If the Jaguars win on Monday, their quarterfinal round game will be at Parkers Prairie on Thursday, March 1 at 7:00. The Panthers are the top seed and were sub-section runners-up in 2011 behind eventual Class A State 4th-place finisher Hancock.

2012 Sub-Section 6A-South girls' basketball rankings:
1 - Parkers Prairie
2 - Hancock
3 - Brandon/Evansville
4 - Wheaton/Herman-Norcross
5 - West Central Area
6 - Underwood
7 - Henning
8 - Battle Lake
9 - B-B-E
10 - Ashby
11 - Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley

In Sub-Section 6A-North, defending sub-section champion Ada-Borup is the top seed.

In Sub-Section 6AA-North, two-time defending sub-section champion Sauk Centre is the top seed, with Staples-Motley coming in as the second seed. Staples-Motley was sub-section champions the last two years in the old Sub-Section 6AA-West. Sauk Centre was in Sub-Section 6AA-East for the past 15 seasons.


Random inclusion of these Feb. 15 state polls...courtesy of the Swift County Monitor (Benson newspaper) Click to enlarge.