After battling through a close first half while building a 31-24 halftime lead, the Jaguars girls' basketball team never let Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg get closer than 5 points in the final half on their way to a 50-37 border battle non-conference win.
In the opening minutes of the second half, both teams had trouble finding the basket. With 14:36 left, the Fighting Saints scored to cut the lead to 31-26. Just 30 seconds later, Kinlee Swanson hit a transition bucket, then got a steal and drive with 11:20 left to make it 36-26.
With 3:37 left, K-M-S cut what was a 15-point lead down to 9, trailing 46-37. The Jaguars got two more shots by Swanson in the final minutes to pick up the 13-point win.
It was great to see a very large hometown crowd tonight. The Jaguars haven't had a winning record at this juncture in the season since 2008-09.
Here's some action from the second half tonight...starting around the 7-minute mark:
The task gets immensely more difficult when the Jaguars (6-4) travel to conference favorite and state-ranked Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted (9-0) tomorrow for a Central Minnesota Conference game. They return home on Friday to host Ortonville (7-3).
Area girls' basketball scores on January 13:
Eden Valley-Watkins 48, Minnewaska Area 46
Lakeview 77, Ortonville 76 (OT)
Area boys' basketball scores on January 13:
Battle Lake 80, New York Mills 39
Underwood 71, Ashby 68
BOLD 61, MACCRAY 57
Sauk Centre 54, Holdingford 37
W/H-N 66, Hancock 36
LP-GE 55, Royalton 28
Kimball Area 76, St. John's Prep 69
A-C-GC 85, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 77
