Girls' basketball struggles vs. Melrose

The Jaguar defense had a few stretches of great play tonight, but at other spots in the game the Dutchmen's hot shooting was too much to handle.

The Jaguars girls' basketball team got some shooting to go their way as the first half developed, but they were unable to slow down the Melrose attack and trail 35-27 at halftime.

After falling behind 6-3 in the first 2 minutes, 10 seconds, Melrose Area pulled ahead 7-6 with 14:51 on the clock with two Emily Goerdt free throws. They slowly expanded the lead to 18-11 with Goerdt slashing in the lane at 9:44. Bailey Buchholz hit a three to get the Jaguars within four, but over a four-minute stretch the Dutchmen built their first double-digit lead at 28-16 on a shot by Goerdt with 4:30 left.

Peyton Miller hit a three with 3:19 left, and about a half-minute later Kinlee Swanson hit from the arc. With 2:20 left, Swanson scored a three-point play to make it 30-25. Just when it appeared that the Jaguars had found their groove, Justine Revermann sniped on the arc. It was her 4th three-pointer of the first half, and her outside shooting was basically what gave her team the 8-point halftime lead.

In the post-game handshakes, Coach Anderson went in for a kiss from Coach Anderson but was promptly denied. Both are highly competitive coaches. They do not like losing, especially to one another.

I have to say, we are very fortunate to have such a unique rivalry going between these two teams. It definitely adds more luster to the border battle!

At Eden Valley for the Central Minnesota Conference tournament, the 7th grade girls' basketball Jaguars lost their opener, won their last two games and finished as consolation champions.

Here's the last couple of minutes of tonight's first half:


Final in the varsity game: Melrose Area 60, B-B-E 51. The Dutchmen improve to 10-7 with the win and travel to BOLD on Monday for a West Central Conference game. The Jaguars are 10-9 overall and travel to Sauk Centre, who was ranked #4 in the latest Class AA polls but has lost 2 games in a row.

After the Sauk Centre game, the Jaguars travel to Eden Valley-Watkins next Thursday.


Central Minnesota Conference boys' basketball score on Feb. 8:
Eden Valley-Watkins 74, Holdingford 47

Area boys' basketball scores on February 8:
New London-Spicer 73, Albany 60 (a marquee win for the Wildcats, beating a red-hot Class AAA Albany team that was on fire in the Granite Ridge Conference and winners of 9 in a row)
West Central Area 67, Royalton 38
Dawson-Boyd 80, Ortonville 58 (Blackjacks are 19-0)
Delano 64, Rockford Area 38 
Benson 58, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 45
**Battle Lake 81, Pelican Rapids 71 (Whew! the Battlers are for real)
Dassel-Cokato 60, Maple Lake 57