Step I: Jaguar girls' basketball drubs Royalton

Hailey Braegelman (32), Alex Evenson and Ashley Trustheim are shown on defense for the Jaguars.

It was a fantastic night for the Jaguars girls' basketball team, who beat 6th-seeded Royalton 68-31 in the opening round of the playoffs. They improve to 13-14 overall, while the Royals finish 6-18. There was really no let up for the Jaguars defensively. They really hustled and put on a great show for what was about a 3/4-capacity crowd at the high school and were determined to never let Royalton get in the game. After giving up an early three in the second half, the Jaguars put the clamps down with a 16-0 run between the 16:30 mark and the 13:45 mark. Alex Evenson scored to make it 41-22, and she put the bookend on that run with a bucket on the block for a 55-22 lead. One of the most fantastic statistics about the second half was holding the Royals to just 12 points.

They now get either Upsala or Ogilvie. Updates to follow.

**Update: we get the Upsala Cardinals (16-11). They won 76-48. We play on Saturday at 7:30 in Pierz!! Start planning the car pools!! Upsala went 9-5 in the Prairie Conference to take fourth place. They are a formidable opponent. They have a handful of terrific guards with outstanding speed. From scouting reports I've gotten, they "hound" an opponent's ball carriers and swarm on defense all night. They will be a difficult team to beat. I also know that when our Jaguars are "on" they can play lights-out defense and get to the hole in a hurry for transition buckets.

The Central Minnesota Conference went 4-3 tonight in girls' basketball playoff openers.

Section 5A girls' basketball results on March 6:
Pine River-Backus 37, Menahga 33 (#3 North beats #6)
Verndale 70, Nevis 57 (#2 North beats #7)
Bertha-Hewitt 37, Parkers Prairie 33 (#5 North beats #4)
Browerville 75, Sebeka 60 (#1 North beats #9)
Upsala 76, Ogilvie 48 (#2 South beats #7)
Kimball Area 54, East Central 48 (#5 South beats #4)
Isle 55, Swanville 29 (#1 South beats #8)

Video from tonight:


Whew! Apple Valley lost 89-77 in double overtime to Cretin-Duram Hall in the Section 3AAAA championship game tonight.

And Melrose's girls beat Holdingford in overtime!

And Smooth Magic 107 FM (Glenwood) plus 106.5 FM The Train (Norway Lake-Sunburg) will be covering Friday night's game in Alexandria. At Pierz on Saturday night, The Train will make the trip. I am still confirming what D-Mac is able to do that day. D-Mac will be at the Osakis-vs-Sauk Centre girls' basketball game on Saturday in Collegeville, which starts at 6:00pm.

The B-B-E 6th grade Math Masters and Coach Montbriand and Coach Field.

I have results from the Math Masters competition in Sauk Rapids. The B-B-E 6th grade team took 13th place overall, while Grace Illies took 19th place overall individually with a first-place individual finish in the fact round. Great job!

OH MY! I am SHOCKED! A team that has been hyped and hyped all season long, Southwest Minnesota Christian boys' basketball, fell tonight in the Section 3A championship in Marshall. Second-seeded Canby (25-4) out of the North sub-section beat SW-MN Christian 66-59! Let me tell you, there was all kinds of chatter online saying that SW-MN Christian (25-3) was a lock for the state tournament. Nope, they'll be a spectator at state.

Area girls' basketball playoff results on March 6:
Sauk Centre 76, Pierz 52
Osakis 59, Pillager 20
Melrose Area 43, Holdingford 41 OT
Litchfield 55, Paynesville Area 36
Staples-Motley 68, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 33
Minnewaska Area 55, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 36
Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 57, Ortonville 46 (WHN was the #6 seed, Trojans were #3)
Battle Lake 49, Brandon/Evansville 35
New London-Spicer 72, Benson 33 (a rough year for Benson, who finished 0-26)
Henning 60, Ashby 54
Eden Valley-Watkins 59, St. John's Prep 35
West Central Area 56, Underwood 38
Braham 62, Maple Lake 47
Rockford Area 68, Breck 37