(Videos, photos and more) Basketball action tonight

Kinlee Swanson applies tight pressure against Holdingford's star senior guard, Joelle Ertl, late in tonight's game. Ertl has signed with Mayville State University to continue her stellar basketball career.

The Jaguars girls' basketball team played with tremendous heart and effort tonight but came up a couple buckets short against Holdingford in a Central Minnesota Conference battle, losing 63-59. Holdingford was coming off of a pretty big upset loss at home to Pierz 65-52 last Thursday night. The Huskers improved to 17-5 (8-4 CMC) with the win, while the Jaguars slipped to 11-12 overall. Up next: a home game on Friday night against Pierz, who was 5-16 overall going into tonight's game with Maple Lake.

By the way, the B-B-E Speech team had an excellent night in Willmar, with four individuals placing in the top four and one duo team placing third. Unofficially, they beat all other Class A teams in the field and took third overall behind Class AA Willmar and Dassel-Cokato.


Here's the last ticks of the girls' basketball game against Holdingford:


And here's action from the first half of the boys' basketball game against Pierz:

More to follow later. My head's still spinning from a very hectic night! It's great to report that the B-B-E Robotics parent meeting had great attendance, and the team is very excited about their trip to Duluth in March.

Shown is the B-B-E Robotics team's robot during the final testing phase before it was packed in a sealed box tonight in preparation to be shipped to Duluth for the March competition.

Central Minnesota Conference boys' basketball scores on Feb. 18:
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 71, Holdingford 54

Central Minnesota Conference girls' basketball scores on Feb. 18:
Eden Valley-Watkins 59, Rockford Area 54
Pierz 71, Maple Lake 70
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 71, Kimball 25

Area boys' basketball scores on Feb. 18:
Melrose Area 85, Benson 72 (Dutchmen win 3rd straight conference title)
Upsala 103, Swanville 74
Maple Lake 60, Milaca 49
West Central Area 50, St. John's Prep 45
Sartell-St. Stephen 64, Willmar 60
Sauk Centre 58, Montevideo 57 
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 90, Yellow Medicine East 60
Battle Lake 86, Bertha-Hewitt 37
Browerville 66, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 57
Morris Area/Chokia-Alberta 68, Minnewaska 57
Canby 70, Dawson-Boyd 63!! (D-B's second loss of the year)
Apple Valley 59, Lakeville North 56 OT
New London-Spicer 79, Dassel-Cokato 54

Area girls' basketball scores on Feb. 18:
Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 61, Royalton 59
Melrose 57, Sauk Rapids-Rice 49
Verndale 78, Browerville 70!! Whew!
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 77, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 36
New London-Spicer 48, Dassel-Cokato 38
Minnewaska 70, Benson 40