(Video) Final minutes of the Upsala win

Here's a video clip nearly 9 minutes long from Saturday night's Upsala win. It begins with about 70 seconds left in the game.


As that second half wore on, I was a complete nervous wreck! I had spent the last 8 seasons watching our girls' basketball team lose in the quarterfinals too many times, so to see them have a great chance to win a semifinal game was terribly exciting. In the last 9 years since winning the Sub-Section 5A-South championship in 2005, the Jaguars had lost twice in this semifinal round game (2008, 2009) as members of Section 6AA.

I knew all that was riding on this game, and it was thrilling to see the Jaguars turn it around in the closing minute to pick up the win. The Jaguars worked very hard to build what was a 16-point lead in the second half...and it shrunk to a 51-47 lead with 46 seconds to go. They did what they needed to and held off what was a hard-charging Upsala team by that point.

Make sure to make tracks to Pierz tomorrow night (Tuesday)!! The Jaguars girls' basketball team both wants and deserves all the support that Jaguar Country can muster. Game time for the sub-section championship is at 8:00pm.

LET'S KEEP IT GOING!

*SCOUTING report: Isle has five seniors on the roster, including two guards, a 5'7" forward, a 5"10" forward and a 5'9" forward. They have 2 juniors on the team plus five sophomores rounding things out. The Huskies are 26-2 overall and cracked the Top-10 state rankings in the final season poll, sitting at 10th. They went 14-2 in the Great River Conference to finish in second place behind Braham (24-4, 15-1), who will play Annandale in the Sub-Section 5AA-North championship.

The Huskies average 63.4 points a game while giving up just 34.1 points on the defensive end. Seniors Andrea Zimpel, McKenzie Blood and Cassie Walters are among their leading scorers.

Last season, Isle went 21-7 while finishing as runners-up in Sub-Section 5A-North. They defeated Upsala two seasons ago in the Section 5A championship by a 78-61 score and finished 25-6 overall with a first-round loss to eventual champion Maranatha Christian at state. In 2010-11, Isle went 24-5 and took second place in the sub-section.

The last time Isle didn't play in a sub-section championship game was in the 2009-10 season, when they finished 19-9 with a round-two loss to eventual state champion Barnum.

As good as their record is, I can't imagine they're any tougher than an Eden Valley-Watkins, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted or Sauk Centre. The Jaguars can play with them!!!

*Below, a link to read about the end of the regular season for Isle:
http://www.messagemedia.co/millelacs/sports/schools/article_146ffa84-a3b0-11e3-85ef-001a4bcf6878.html

And also, can't forget to mention that both radio stations (The Train, Smooth Magic) will be in Pierz for the sub-section championship game.