Jaguar girls' basketball starts with a win

Kinlee Swanson drives the right sideline after grabbing a steal in the 2nd half tonight.

Coach Williams, C-squad coach for 2013-14, hands out high-fives to the players as they huddle up during a 2nd-half timeout tonight.

During a 2nd half timeout.

Alex Evenson is off to the races on a fast break after one of the first steals she had tonight.

The defense shined tonight for the Jaguars girls' basketball team as they buried MACCRAY 53-35 in the Benson Case IH invitational semifinals.

Coach Kristina Anderson went 8 deep in the early stages of the first half, and the pressure defense worked to the tune of giving up just 12 first-half points to the Wolverines (0-3). The Jaguars started with a 7-0 run and then expanded on a 9-6 lead with another 7-0 run capped by a wide-open bank shot by Katelyn Heinze.

The Wolverines scored two early free throws after halftime, but the Jaguars put the hammer down starting with a three-pointer by Peyton Miller that started an exciting 19-2 run that blew the game open. Hailey Braegelman, Megan Weller, Kinlee Swanson and Bailey Buchholz all added points to help the Jaguars lead 41-16 with 12:30 left in the game.

Weller led a very balanced scoring attack for the Jaguars with 10 points. Seven Jaguars scored in the game, and they all had between 6 and 10 points. Whew! I'm impressed. Great job.

Here's some video from the first half in Benson:


Up next: Paynesville Area in the tournament championship game. The Bulldogs defeated Benson 59-29 tonight in the other semifinal. Tip off should be at about 7:45 on Saturday night.