Playoffs - Step I

At halftime: B-B-E 54, Hinckley-Finlayson 12.

Final score: B-B-E 87, Hinckley-Finlayson 25.

Hinckley-Finlayson finishes the season 9-19 overall.

The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team (22-5) now heads to the sub-section semis! Tonight's playoff win had the largest margin of victory for a playoff game since exactly eight years ago in the 2010-2011 season. On February 28, 2011, the No. 7-seeded Jaguars beat No. 10-seeded Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 77-24 to advance to the sub-section quarterfinals. In the sub-section quarterfinals, the Jaguars put up one hell of a fight in a 66-62 loss to No. 2-seeded Parkers Prairie (at Parkers Prairie).

This is neat! Current B-B-E senior Macie Kirckof's oldest sister, Ashley, was a senior on that 2010-11 team.

Next: the Jaguars play at 6 p.m. on Saturday, March 2 at 6 p.m. at Little Falls high school. Their opponent will be No. 5-seeded Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg.

*Here's video from the post-game huddle tonight.


Tonight in their quarterfinal game, the K-M-S Fighting Saints (13-13) beat No. 4-seeded Upsala (13-14) in Upsala by a 44-42 overtime margin! I have to gather more information on that game. I can't imagine how exciting the atmosphere was at the Upsala gym. Quite a fun bus ride back to the K-M-S high school for their team!

*Update: I just learned that K-M-S fought back from a 10-point halftime deficit to pull out the exciting win. The game was tied at 38-all after regulation play ended. Katie Krieger led the Fighting Saints with 18 points, six steals and nine boards. Madison Rohner added a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds.

Section 5A girls' basketball scores on Feb. 28:East Central 48, Braham 46
Pine River-Backus 74, Browerville 34
Sebeka 47, Verndale 42
Menahga 71, Nevis 23
Swanville 62, Ogilvie 27 (Swanville is the No. 2 seed in our sub-section; they are 20-3 overall)

I am posting scores from this week...trying to play catch-up here. I have a ways to go.

Area girls' basketball scores on Feb. 28 (some playoffs):Eden Valley-Watkins 63, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 53
Litchfield 41, New London-Spicer 38
C-G-B 67, Brandon-Evansville 36
West Central Area 86, Hancock 53
Parkers Prairie 65, Ortonville 38
Holdingford 54, Kimball Area 50
Sauk Centre 78, North Lakes Academy 14
Albany 61, Melrose Area 58
Foley 56, Pierz 48
Royalton 68, Milaca 48
Rush City 56, Osakis 28
Maranatha Christian 69, Maple Lake 32
Watertown-Mayer 43, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 31

Area boys' basketball scores on Feb. 28 (some playoffs):Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 69, Wabasso 53
MACCRAY 54, Yellow Medicine East 53 (a border battle playoff game in Clara City; another gym that had to be rocking tonight!)
Lakeview 61, Canby 55
Ortonville 54, Ashby 47
Springfield 104, Windom Area 42

Area boys' basketball scores on February 26:New London-Spicer 73, Rockford Area 43 (Wildcats clinch a co-championship of the Wright County West with this win)
Hinckley-Finlayson 62, East Central 57
Lac qui Parle Valley 74, Minneota 72 (LQPV clinches a share of the Camden North Conference title with this upset win over top-ranked Minneota)
Willmar 75, St. Cloud Tech 61
New York Mills 71, Battle Lake 65 OT
Royalton 63, Staples-Motley 40
West Central Area 67, Underwood 53
Upsala 59, Isle 53
Albany 62, Eden Valley-Watkins 56
BOLD 91, Montevideo 49
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 76, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 67
Parkers Prairie 77, Henning 74 OT
Brandon-Evansville 64, Bertha-Hewitt 32
Swanville 74, Ogilvie 32
Sauk Centre 70, Browerville 63
Minnewaska Area 61, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 50
Osakis 79, St. John's Prep 53
Ortonville 80, Canby 43
Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 65, Verndale 40
Melrose Area 74, Sartell-St. Stephen 67

Area girls' basketball scores on Feb. 26 (some playoffs):Minneota 65, Yellow Medicine East 32
LP-GE 48, Osakis 37
LQPV 59, Wabasso 55

From here on out the Bonanza Valley Voice will work diligently to find an "extra gear or two" on the transmission for our sports department! We'll see how it goes.

http://www.buckyspickles.com

State wrestling

At state today, No. 1-seeded LPGE/Browerville won 30-24 over unseeded Goodhue.

*Update! The LPGE/Browerville Wolves beat Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 31-22 in their semifinal match up.

And! In the finals, LPGE/Browerville capped off their truly incredible 2018-19 season with a 35-27 win over Kenyon-Wanamingo in the Class 1A state championship. Great job, what a day for them to represent Section 5A!

Later tonight state individual wrestling information will be posted for the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team members who are competing at state tomorrow.

(VIDEO) Section wrestling

Below you can watch the 138-pound section championship match between Tyler Bents and Paynesville's Shawn Rue. The two seniors squared off on Saturday in the Section 5A tournament at Minnewaska Area high school.


Here's Michael Doubek in the 195-pound fifth-place match against K-M-S's Marc Collins:


I still haven't dug into the state brackets. I hope to get to them tonight and post information about Friday's first-round match ups.

Heartbreaker

The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team suffered a heartbreaking loss tonight at Paynesville. After holding a 15-14 lead at halftime, the Jaguars were outscored by two points in the second half in a 39-38 loss.

The game featured a huge disparity in free throws. Paynesville got to the line for 19 attempts and made only 10. The Jaguars were good on four of six free throws through the entire 36-minute game.

Now 13-11 overall and 7-5 in the Central Minnesota Conference, the Jaguars hit the road on Friday this week to face Kimball Area. They sit in a tie for third place in the CMC with Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted. In second is Maple Lake (9-4), while Eden Valley-Watkins remains in first place with a 9-3 mark.

Central Minnesota Conference boys' basketball scores on Feb. 26:
Pierz 85, Kimball Area 68
Maple Lake 62, Holdingford 51

If I had more time

If I had more time, I'd be able to write about all the exciting things going on at B-B-E schools. Much of this surrounds the academic side of what is happening in our district. In the coming months, I will write as much as I am able to in the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper about all that.

Unfortunately, that's about all I can say because I have direct newspaper work to tend to!

I was excited to see the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team has cracked the Top 10 in the latest Minnesota Basketball News state rankings. In their February 22 issue, the Jaguars are ranked No. 10 in Class 1A. They begin the playoffs with a home quarterfinal game this week Thursday (Feb. 28) at 7 p.m. Their opponent will be No. 9-seeded Hinckley-Finlayson, who just beat No. 8-seeded Onamia tonight by a 64-50 score in a play-in round game.

Late start...and wrestling

B-B-E schools will start two hours late on Monday, February 25.

Further wrestling coverage will be posted here tonight. Video from yesterday's section tournament is being uploaded right now.

**Below, video from Canon Swanson's championship match:


The Minnesota individual state wrestling tournament will begin on Friday, March 1 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. Action continues on Saturday with wrestlers still alive in the tournament. I haven't studied the brackets yet or even the schedule. The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team will have five student-athletes in action for the opening round. Coaches, student managers and fans will be quite busy!

I'm currently in the process of lining up business advertising to pay for state wrestling coverage. The goal is to get enough businesses on board to pay for at least a trip to Xcel on Friday.

Tonight I'm still dealing with the misery that winter is dishing out today! More to come.

THANK YOU to Coop's Corner of Belgrade for being one of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's super loyal business sponsors of B-B-E Jaguars sports coverage!!!

Wrestling, Saturday

Wrestling updates are coming.

Looking for something to do tonight? Head over to Goat Ridge Brewery in New London! Live music starts at 8 p.m. Read more here: https://www.goatridgebrewing.com/events/the-everett-smithson-band-mardi-gras-party.

The Jaguars have three to state so far!

*Update: punching tickets to state so far out of Section 5A are Blaine Fischer, Canon Swanson and Tyler Bents. All three are making repeat trips. Swanson and Tyler Bents have each been to state multiple times.

Tyler Jensen and Walker Bents will both battle for state trips in true second matches.

Michael Doubek, a junior, placed fifth in his bracket.

Mark Jenniges won an 8-5 decision at 182 pounds.

*Update: to recap a little here...Walker Bents lost a 7-3 decision to KMS's Coy Gunderson in the 106-pound finals. Walker now faces seventh grader Austin Kiecker of BOLD in a true second match.

At 132, Tyler Jensen lost in the finals to undefeated Mason Gode (44-0) of LPGE/Browerville. Jensen now faces sophomore Jackson Stadsvold of Minnewaska Area in a true second match.

Stay tuned for more!!!

**Update: freshmen Walker Bents won in grand style at 106 to get his first trip to state!! He stuck Kiecker within 30 seconds in the first period. I had camera trouble and didn't get video. Grrrr.

That makes four B-B-E wrestlers to state so far!!

And make it five! Tyler Jensen won a 4-3 decision in his true second match to advance to state for the second year in a row.

Undefeated Silverstreaks

The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team had a tall order at hand tonight in a non-conference battle on the home court with undefeated Osakis.

A one-possession game played out for the first 13 minutes. With five minutes to go, Osakis held a 22-20 lead. They went on a tear to close out the first half, and at the break the Silverstreaks led 36-22.

Osakis (23-0) kept the pressure on and led 45-27 with 10 minutes left.

Final score: Osakis 60, B-B-E 47. The main difference in the game was in shooting percentages: Osakis drained field goals at a 48 percent clip, while the Jaguars made 34 percent of shots from the floor.

Next for the Jaguars (13-10, 7-4) is a huge road game at Paynesville next Tuesday, February 26 in a Central Minnesota Conference border battle.

*Below is video by the Bonanza Valley Voice from the final minute or so of the Kimball game on Tuesday night:


Area girls' basketball scores on February 22:
Parkers Prairie 55, Underwood 49
Upsala 52, Osakis 37
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 54, Maple Lake 51
Royalton 66, LP-GE 50
Alexandria 59, Sartell-St. Stephen 37
West Central Area 95, Ortonville 62
Willmar 78, Rocori 31
Swanville 72, Browerville 36
Pierz 59, Pillager 42
Sauk Centre 71, Melrose Area 54

Area boys' basketball scores on February 22:
Browerville 53, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 33
New London-Spicer 70, Litchfield 65
Mound Westonka 68, Rockford Area 52
Cromwell-Wright 67, Nevis 55
Albany 58, Little Falls 39
Ashby 77, Underwood 38
Becker 79, Willmar 67
Minnewaska Area 65, BOLD 50
Hinckley-Finlayson 63, Rush City 52
Eden Valley-Watkins 61, Holdingford 44 (CMC game)
Minneota 86, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 45
St. Cloud Cathedral 85, Sauk Centre 65
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 90, Yellow Medicine East 69
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 58, Lac qui Parle Valley 55 (K-M-S stays in the hunt for the Camden North title)
Hancock 82, Renville County West 69
Verndale 44, Sebeka 40
Ortonville 65, Montevideo 62
Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 63, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 49
Benson 90, Redwood Valley 88 (OT)
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 67, Paynesville Area 38

Huge road win at Pierz

The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team remained well in the hunt for at least a piece of the Central Minnesota Conference title. At Pierz on Thursday night, the Jaguars had another three-point shooting display with 10 made shots beyond the arc in a thrilling 67-64 win.

Now 13-9 overall, the Jaguars are 7-4 in the CMC and prepare for undefeated Osakis (22-0) later tonight. They are now precisely one game out of first place and in third place alone in the CMC standings after Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted lost 70-65 to visiting Kimball Area last night.

Eden Valley-Watkins, idle tonight, is in first place in the CMC at 8-3. In second is Maple Lake at 8-4. HL-W-W is 7-5 in fourth place, while Pierz is in fifth place at 6-6.

At home on Thursday night, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team capped the regular season with a 70-34 blow out win over Kimball Area. It was also Seniors and Parents Night (video to come)...the Jaguars were clicking all throughout the second half and pretty much all of the first half.

Kimball Area finishes 7-7 in the CMC and is 14-10 overall heading into their Section 6AA playoffs.

Next for the girls' basketball team is the playoffs on Thursday, February 28 at 7 p.m. on the home court. They will take a 21-5 record into the sub-section playoffs.

Central MN Conference boys' basketball scores on Feb. 21:
Kimball Area 70, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 65
Maple Lake 65, Paynesville Area 56


Video from HLWW last Saturday:


Area boys' basketball scores on February 21:
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 69, Parkers Prairie 68
Redwood Valley 97, New London-Spicer 90 OT
Rockford 54, Annandale 53
West Central Area 63, Brandon-Evansville 47
Royalton 55, Upsala 32
Minneota 89, Lakeview 56
Melrose Area 80, Holdingford 65
Hancock 72, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 35
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 65, MACCRAY 60

Area girls' basketball scores on Feb. 21:
Hancock 50, K-M-S 46
Osakis 81, Staples-Motley 35
Pillager 68, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 50
Albany 75, St. Cloud Cathedral 69
Mora 78, Braham 56
Southwest MN Christian 87, Canby 44

That's all for now. Busy day ahead!

Updates

With 2:47 left in the first half, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team is ahead 32-12 over Kimball.

*Update: at Pierz, the boys' basketball team has a 32-26 lead at halftime.

Refresh the blog to see a new update with final scores, etc.

Sub-section girls' basketball playoffs

Here are the seedings for Sub-Section 5A-South. Playoffs begin with the play-in round on February 25. The quarterfinals follow on February 28. The top-seeded B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team will host a quarterfinal game on February 28 at 7 p.m.

Sub-Section 5A-South girls' basketball seedings:

1. B-B-E

2. Swanville

3. East Central

4. Upsala

5. Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg

6. ? (none listed by MSHSL)

7. ? (none listed by MSHSL)

8. Hinckley-Finlayson

9. Onamia

10. Isle

More will follow later this afternoon.

Catching up: radio!

Horribly, horribly behind on just about everything imaginable here...today will be my first crack at trying to get caught up. If that's even possible.

Tonight! At our home game between the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team and the Kimball Cubs, 106.5 FM The Train will be in action in conjunction with members of the B-B-E broadcasting team. The game will be the regular season finale as playoffs are set to begin next week.

Also! At Pierz, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team has a huge, huge game against the Pioneers. That game will be aired on YouAreThereSports.com...with Rick Grammond's fine coverage. Rick has been a long-time sports journalist friend of mine. He is one of the best! Thanks, Rick, for the coverage!

The boys' basketball team is in fourth place (6-4) in the Central Minnesota Conference standings. They trail front-runner Eden Valley-Watkins (8-3) by one-and-a-half games. Tonight's game is essentially a must-win game in order to stay in the hunt.

Both B-B-E and Pierz are 12-9 overall, but the Pioneers have won six of their last seven contests. Their only loss in that span was by a 90-85 score in a shoot out at Paynesville on February 8. The Jaguars got a boost with an overtime win over Kimball on Tuesday in which they halted a three-game losing skid.

Note: playoff seedings for the girls' basketball team will be added at this sports blog in a new post. Re-load the page to see that!

More to come.

Late start

School is 2 hours late on Thursday, February 21.

School closed

School is closed today, Wednesday, Feb. 20.

A fair amount of snow is on its way.

*By 13:00, the B-B-E area has received at least seven inches of snow since around 3 a.m. when the snow started coming down.

If you have some down time amidst this snow storm, feel free to take in part of the February 10 worship service at West Lake Johanna Lutheran church!


May you have a blessed and safe day - I worry about loved ones who are out and about in this winter weather.

Two wins

This was a two-win night for the Jaguars!

At home tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team had a battle on their hands with Kimball Area. The second period ended with the score tied at 58-all.

Final score: B-B-E 64, Kimball Area 58 in overtime. The Jaguars, still in fourth place in the conference, are 12-9 overall heading into Thursday's road game at Pierz. It will be another huge Central Minnesota Conference game for the team as they attempt to stay in the title race.

The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team won 65-27 at Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg tonight. They broke the school record for most regular season wins set last year at 19. Now 20-5 overall, the Jaguars wrap up the regular season on Thursday this week on the home court. They host Kimball Area in a CMC contest.

More to come later tonight. Time to head back to Robotics!!!!

*Good grief! Just saw this...Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted lost at the buzzer tonight to visiting Eden Valley-Watkins in a show down of the top two boys' basketball teams in the Central Minnesota Conference. This is quite a shake-up in the outlook for the race to win at least a share of the CMC title.

As it stands, the CMC boys' basketball standings are:
1. Eden Valley-Watkins (8-3)
2. Maple Lake, HL-W-W (7-4 each)
4. B-B-E (6-4)
5. Pierz (6-5)
6. Paynesville Area (6-6)
7. Kimball Area (4-7)
8. Holdingford (0-11)

Halftime

At halftime tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team has a 28-22 lead over Kimball Area. Earlier in the half, the Jaguars led 17-5.

The score was tied at 58-all after regulation!

At Kerkhoven tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team has a 41-17 lead at halftime.

Refresh this blog to see a new update.

Magnificent!

I think I've used that adjective before following a B-B-E band concert (or choir) ...but I'm gonna pull it out of the thesaurus and use it again!

Tonight's winter band concert was magnificent!!! Grades 5-12...two hours' worth of music. The kids did a great job!

On another note...three to five inches of snow is coming on Wednesday this week. (Yawn) I'm sure the major media will do its part to play it up and make it sound like Armageddon!

(VIDEO) Sno-Daze coronation

Five days later...here's the video of the king and queen being crowned last Tuesday, located at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website: https://bit.ly/2GAIyQD.

Don't forget! On Monday night the winter band concert will be held at the high school auditorium. The fifth and sixth graders will perform a short concert at 6 p.m., and the 7th-12th grade musicians will follow starting at 7 p.m.

##ConquerEveryDay

Updates from HLWW

With eight minutes left in the first half, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted has a 13-11 lead over the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team.

Halftime: HLWW 30, B-B-E 25. Early in the first half, senior Evan Wiener eclipsed the 1,000 points mark in his career.

Final: HLWW 66, B-B-E 49. With the loss, the Jaguars (11-9, 5-4) fall to fourth place in the CMC, while HLWW (10-10, 7-3) pulls into a first-place tie with Eden Valley-Watkins. In third place is Maple Lake, who has a CMC record of 7-4. Technically, the Jaguars are just a half-game out of third place.

Time to shift attention to B-B-E robotics for the afternoon.

*Taking the night off. I missed the predator hunt in Swift Falls, but I did learn that they had 73 hunters for a great turnout! I hope to write more about that i next week's newspaper.

Area boys' basketball scores on February 16:
Ortonville 78, Hancock 62
Lac qui Parle Valley 68, MACCRAY 52
Dawson-Boyd 91, Renville County West 69 (RCW knocked out of first place in the Camden North Conference)
Paynesville Area 74, Holdingford 65 (CMC game)
West Central Area 95, Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 39
Cedar Mountain 63, BOLD 60

Area girls' basketball scores on February 16:
New London-Spicer 45, Annandale 36
West Central Area 55, Brandon-Evansville 50
Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 58, Upsala 49
Lakeview 55, Russel-Tyler-Ruthton 45
Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart 77, Cedar Mountain 36

Section wrestling recap

At Benson on Friday night, the Section 5A wrestling Final Four was held.

In one semifinal, the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team lost 49-15 to top-ranked and top-seeded Long Prairie-Grey Eagle/Browerville. In the other semifinal, No. 2-seeded and No. 4-ranked Minnewaska Area defeated No. 3-seeded Benson 49-18.

In the section finals that followed, LP-GE/Browerville beat Minnewaska Area 37-25 to advance to state for the second year in a row.

In the Section 4A finals on Friday in Howard Lake, No. 3-ranked Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City beat No. 3-seeded Kimball Area 56-10.

In the Section 6A finals on Friday in Wheaton, No. 1-seeded and No. 11-ranked Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale/Parkers Prairie beat No. 2-seeded Ottertail Central 45-12.

Numerous Class 2A sections will have team tournaments across the state on Saturday.

*Below, video from the end of the Maple Lake game:


**Wrestling fans! Remember, as published in the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper, the Section 5A individual tournament will be held on Saturday, February 23 starting at 9 a.m. at the Minnewaska Area high school.

Friday night updates, results

Updates will follow here throughout the evening for the three varsity sports teams in action.

*With 10 minutes left in the first half, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team trails 20-9 to visiting Maple Lake.

Halftime: Maple Lake 35, B-B-E 23. The Irish had 2.3 seconds to go with their last possession, and they inbounded the ball, got it to the half court line and then launched a three-pointer from that point at the buzzer. A Hail Mary shot that went through the net.

*Update: the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team lost 49-15 in the semis tonight to LPGE-Browerville.

*Update: with 11.7 seconds left, Maple Lake has a 66-64 lead. Earlier, with 1:53 left, Evan Wiener's layup put the Jaguars ahead 60-59. The lead changed hands numerous times over the last two minutes of play.

Final: Maple Lake 68, B-B-E 64. Not helping the cause was B-B-E's poor 2-of-8 free throw shooting for the game. Evan Wiener had another banner night with 30 points, continuing his outstanding senior season on the court. Maple Lake's senior guard Mitch Hoistad had a night for the ages with 43 points with six three-pointers and nine free throws.

This was a very tough loss to absorb, but the good news is that they can get the ship back on track tomorrow at Howard Lake! Tip-off is at 1:30 p.m. The winner will have quite a boost in the conference race. If B-B-E wins, they would be just a half-game out of first place with Eden Valley-Watkins.

At Paynesville tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team won 51-17. Next for the girls' basketball team (19-5) is a non-conference border battle at Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg (11-10) next Tuesday.

Also, in boys' basketball action tonight, Eden Valley-Watkins defeated Paynesville 64-61. In another Central Minnesota Conference game, Kimball Area beat Holdingford 61-52. The updated CMC standings will be posted later tonight once I see all the scores come in.

Current CMC boys' basketball standings as of Feb. 15:
1. Eden Valley-Watkins (7-3)
2. Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted (6-3)
3. B-B-E (5-3)
4. Maple Lake (7-4)
5. Pierz (6-5)
6. Paynesville (5-6)
7. Kimball Area (4-6)
8. Holdingford (0-10)

Area boys' basketball scores on February 15:New London-Spicer 65, Dassel-Cokato 53
Rockford 56, Glencoe-Silver Lake 52 (2 OT)
Osakis 65, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 33
Battle Lake 76, Rothsay 52
Albany 64, Mora 48
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 63, MACCRAY 52
Norman County East/Ulen-Hitterdal 60, West Central Area 58 (OT)
Wadena-Deer Creek 73, Sebeka 59
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 78, Montevideo 73
Brandon-Evansville 55, Ashby 52
Hancock 58, Dawson-Boyd 50
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 65, Benson 46
Melrose Area 57, Minnewaska Area 50
Minneota 75, Russel-Tyler-Ruthton 71
Willmar 67, Sauk Rapids-Rice 53

Area girls' basketball scores on February 15:NL-S 70, D-C 46
Alexandria 52, Fergus Falls 44
East Central 52, Braham 47
Yellow Medicine East 59, Lakeview 43
WCA 83, NCE/U-H 54
Verndale 46, New York Mills 29
Central MN Christian 60, Renville County West 28
Lac qui Parle Valley 65, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 43
Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 40, Hancock 37
Willmar 69, SR-R 30
Dawson-Boyd 56, MACCRAY 39

Final Four coming

Best of luck and many well-wishes are in order for our state-ranked B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team!

They are set for a trip to the Section 5A Final Four round coming tonight at 6 p.m. at the Benson high school. At stake is the program's fifth trip to the section finals, which would take place at 8 p.m. tonight at the same location against either Minnewaska Area or Benson.

No. 3-seeded Benson defeated No. 6-seeded Paynesville Area 41-19 in their quarterfinal match on Wednesday night.

Before any thought of the section finals can take place, the Jaguars (10-6) have to knock off top-seeded and top-ranked and defending Section 5A champion Long Prairie-Grey Eagle/Browerville. The Wolves are 22-1 overall, but I feel confident the Jaguars will come out firing on all cylinders and give our fans plenty to cheer for!

To recap: the section semifinals start at 6 p.m. in Benson, and both semi matches will take place concurrently.

The Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's sports department is still in the planning stages of what the weekend will look like starting tonight. Updates will be posted here as often as possible (in a new blog post).

Stay tuned! And while you're at it...may you ##ConquerEveryDay

Jaguars win, Kirckof surpasses 1,000 points

At halftime, Pierz has a 30-29 lead over the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team.

The Jaguars led 24-6 earlier in the first half.

*Final score: B-B-E 65, Pierz 45. The Jaguars have 18 wins! Macie Kirckof joined the 1,000-point club early in the second half. She hit three consecutive shots while helping the Jaguars surge in front 35-33 in the first two minutes of play.

Pierz falls to 11-11 overall and 6-7 (fifth) in the Central Minnesota Conference.

Next: the Jaguars (18-5, 9-3) travel to Paynesville tomorrow night for a conference border battle.

In boys' basketball news, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team now sits in first place alone in the Central Minnesota Conference! At least for a day...! They have a tall task ahead with two CMC games in the next two days. Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted's half-game lead over the Jaguars disappeared tonight when Pierz won a shootout on HL-W-W's home floor tonight 81-62.

Current CMC boys' basketball standings:
1. B-B-E (5-2)
2. HL-W-W and EV-W (6-3 each)
4. Maple Lake (6-4)
5. Pierz (6-5)
6. Paynesville (5-5)
7. Kimball Area (3-6)
8. Holdingford (0-9)

Central MN Conference girls' basketball scores on Feb. 14:

Kimball Area 59, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 43

Maple Lake 50, Paynesville Area 46

Area girls' basketball scores on February 14:
Upsala 53, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 51 (2 OT)

Braham 57, Hinckley-Finlayson 40

Underwood 68, Ashby 54

Holdingford 80, Spectrum 49

St. Cloud Apollo 53, Willmar 43

Royalton 68, Browerville 29

Eden Valley-Watkins 53, Annandale 38

Area boys' basketball scores on February 14:

Spectrum 55, Maple Lake 52

Battle Lake 60, Underwood 41

Henning 101, Bertha-Hewitt 23

Annandale 61, Eden Valley-Watkins 46

Pierz 81, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 62 (CMC game)

Below, catch up on what's happening on Saturday at Goat Ridge Brewing Co. in New London...they had a large advertisement on page 8 in this week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper. Click on the link to see more (including video): https://bit.ly/2N6jFwm.

http://www.buckyspickles.com

Game on!

Game on tonight for the girls' basketball team. The weather moderated as predicted, and we're on schedule.

Pierz's bus rolled into town at about 17:15 at the high school.

Updates to follow later. *The game will be aired on The Train 106.5 FM.


In the first half, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team has a 26-14 lead with eight minutes to go. Macie Kirckof currently has eight points in the game. She's just seven points from her 1,000th career point!

**Update: with 5:09 left, the Pioneers have narrowed B-B-E's lead to just 27-22. They've hit three three-pointers in the last three minutes of play.

Good grief!

Just after 11 a.m. today, and all hell just broke loose out on the prairie across the Bonanza Valley area...and it's not much better in town! The wind speed is currently around 20 miles an hour. It is expected to climb towards 25 mph. this afternoon and possibly higher. The good news: the snow should taper off within the hour. That could make the afternoon "not so terrible" - we'll see!

The hourly forecast says the strong winds won't start to subside until after 19:00 tonight. The newspaper's news and sports departments have been beaten into a stand still at this point. It has been challenging to keep websites updated, keep regular business operations going and handle the home front. (We're not "special" for this, because it's what all business owners are experiencing right now.) I do hope to get Sno-Daze coronation video posted later today.

Here's more at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's website (video): https://bit.ly/2InTzWO.

My gut says for the school to "Wait it out, the kids are in school now and safe" and the snow is not gonna last much longer...I am glad I don't have to make those decisions. My nerves have been rattled enough just worrying about my own immediate family!!

As I have said before, this is a challenging time for educators to get the job done. We need cooperation, patience and understanding from parents, students and the general community while we collectively navigate through this winter!

*And remember: this is just winter, a regular winter - winters like we had back in the 1980s and prior! So we don't need to get our panties in a bundle. We will get through it.

On another note, here's great Valentine's-related entertainment for Saturday night! At Central Square and Civic Center in Glenwood...This was on page four of the February 7 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice and also on page four of the January 31 issue. https://bit.ly/2GNM214. We are very grateful and appreciate of the support of Central Square in Glenwood to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

##ConquerEveryDay

(VIDEO) Pastor Sermon

*Here's Pastor Steve's sermon at God Squad last night at Trinity Lutheran in Brooten:


In today's varsity action, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team hosts Pierz.

Wrestling playoffs

Osakis won their playoff opener 52-24 tonight over No. 10-seeded Ortonville in the Section 5A quarterfinals.

Through three weight classes, B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team is trailing 7-3 to Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg in their quarterfinal match.

Through 170 pounds: B-B-E has a 34-13 lead.

At 182, Mark Jenniges won a 5-2 decision over Ethan Peters. That handed the Jaguars the team win!

Final score: B-B-E 46, K-M-S 19. The Jaguars improve to 10-6 overall in duals.

Next: the Section 5A semifinals on Friday, February 15. The match will begin at 6 p.m. at the Benson high school. Their opponent will be top-seeded Long Prairie-Grey Eagle/Browerville (21-1).

More updates will follow here on Thursday morning.

Postal box issues

A reminder from the U.S. Post Office, please clear snow from your post office boxes so the mail carriers can get to them!

Early dismissal

There you have it, folks! Another school day interrupted or disrupted by the weather!

Due to oncoming poor travel conditions later today, B-B-E schools will be dismissed at 1 p.m. today.

This is the message from Superintendent Walsh:
B-B-E Schools will dismiss at 1 p.m. today due to inclement weather. All activities for this evening are postponed. The varsity boys' basketball game at Howard Lake will be postponed to Saturday, February 16 at noon. The Section 5A wrestling contest with Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg will be held Wednesday, February 13 at 7 p.m. at the high school. The junior high boys' basketball game with Paynesville has been cancelled.

The week started off smoothly with a regular school day yesterday. It has developed into a bizarre week by now, and it's just Tuesday!

Tonight Pierz beat Holdingford 74-58 in boys' basketball action. I'll hopefully post some other scores later tonight after I put the paper to bed.

##ConquerEveryDay

Halftime, final in home contest

At halftime tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team has a commanding 34-15 lead over visiting Maple Lake.

Final score: B-B-E 73, Maple Lake 39. The Jaguars improve to 17-5 with the win and 8-3 in the Central Minnesota Conference. Their next game is on Thursday this week against Pierz (10-9, 5-5).

Maple Lake falls to 2-18 overall and 1-10 in the CMC.

*Don't forget that tomorrow night (Tuesday) the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team hosts Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg in a rare playoff border battle. It will be a huge treat for fans and a great atmosphere of high school wrestling.

Central MN Conference girls' basketball scores on Feb. 11:
Kimball Area 59, Pierz 49

Area girls' basketball scores on February 11:
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 79, Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart 62
Underwood 51, Brandon-Evansville 32
Menahga 62, Browerville 19

Lakeview 51, Canby 37

Lac qui Parle Valley 37, MACCRAY 28

Yellow Medicine East 68, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 45

Area boys' basketball scores on February 11:
Renville County West 88, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 77
Melrose Area 85, New London-Spicer 82
Rockford Area 64, Watertown-Mayer 53
Maple Lake 58, Kimball Area 54 (CMC game)
Willmar 74, Rocori 47
Minneota 90, Adrian 44

At 22:00 tonight the snow is coming down quickly and furiously across the Bonanza Valley area. Will it amount to anything? We'll know by morning.

Sno-Daze

B-B-E schools will hold the annual Sno-Daze festivities and activities next week, starting tomorrow (Monday). Read more details at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website: https://bit.ly/2TDTtLT.

On an unrelated note: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/03/science/whats-lost-as-handwriting-fades.html. Typing skills and handwriting still matter today!

Speech

The B-B-E speech team took second in the large school division at Swanville today! Nice work for a team that has just two seniors. Ethan Fischer was champion in Storytelling, while five other team members earned honorable mention or placed for their respective categories.

##Whyisntyourkidinspeech

Area boys' basketball scores on February 9:Sauk Centre 76, Rockford 61
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 79, Hancock 77
Hinckley-Finlayson 66, International Falls 50
Delano 62, Willmar 58
Melrose Area 57, Eden Valley-Watkins 47
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 61, Paynesville Area 52 (CMC game)
Upsala 72, Braham 56 (Upsala breaks a three-game skid while beating a team who they're fighting with for the No. 3 position in Sub-Section 5A-South)
Minnewaska Area 70, Breckenridge 62
Yellow Medicine East 57, Minneota 55 (Minneota was 18-0 going into this game at Granite Falls; YME was 2-14; three starters for Minneota were unable to play as a result of Minneota cheating in their win over MACCRAY on January 31 - sending the wrong player to shoot free throws late in the game)
New London-Spicer 105, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 77

Area girls' basketball scores on February 9:
Sauk Centre 69, Rockford 47
Pierz 65, HL-W-W 62 (CMC game)
Central MN Christian 68, Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart 43
Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 65, Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 48
Eden Valley-Watkins 53, Menahga 42 (this was a big game to follow)
Minnewaska Area 48, Yellow Medicine East 35
New London-Spicer 77, A-C-GC 41
Rush City 61, Pine City 49
Alexandria 67, Becker 66
Ada-Borup/Norman County West 54, Parkers Prairie 49


I'll be sharing this again in the coming days, but here's a summary of the Valentine's Day (February 14) events that have been advertised in the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper...read more at the newspaper's website: https://bit.ly/2N04WmO.

And from the Belgrade Commercial Club! They will hold their third annual Easter Egg Hunt and visit by the Easter Bunny on the morning of Saturday, April 13. Other details will be published in the Bonanza Valley Voice as that date approaches.

Make-up days

Spread the word for B-B-E parents...the make-up days will be Monday, February 11 and Monday, February 25 for the two missed school days last week.

Wrestlers win, seedings posted

For Parents and Seniors night, the No. 8-ranked B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team shot out to a huge 34-0 lead through the 145-pound weight class against visiting Benson tonight. Then through 195 pounds, the Braves narrowed the lead to 34-26 before junior Michael Doubek earned a key win by fall (2:54) over Alden Sylte to clinch the win.

Earlier this week, Benson (12-9 overall) earned the No. 3 seed in Section 5A, while B-B-E was seeded No. 4.

The Jaguars will take a 9-6 team dual record into the Section 5A quarterfinals, which will be held next Tuesday, February 12 at 7 p.m. on the home mats of our high school. (*This is weather-permitting...here in Jaguar Country we are already gearing up for another round of snow and wind in the forecast for next Tuesday.)

If the Jaguars beat K-M-S, they would likely face No. 1-seeded Long Prairie-Grey Eagle/Browerville in the semifinals. The semifinals will be in Benson at 6 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 15. The section finals are the same night at Benson at approximately 8 p.m.

At Sauk Centre, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team lost 79-68. A career night for senior Evan Wiener (31 points) was not enough to overcome Ryan Sueflow's 30 points and Jacob Jennissen's 24 points for the Mainstreeters (9-10, 5-6 West Central Conference).

Below is the wrestling team seeding for Section 5A:
1. Long Prairie-Grey Eagle/Browerville
2. Minnewaska Area
3. Benson
4. B-B-E
5. Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg
6. Paynesville Area
7. Osakis
8. BOLD
9. Quad County
10. Ortonville

In case you missed it in the preseason schedule published on November 29 in the Bonanza Valley Voice, the section individual tournament is on February 23 at Minnewaska Area with a 9 a.m. start.

Area boys' basketball scores on February 8:
Paynesville area 90, Pierz 85 (CMC game at Paynesville; the Bulldogs are just a half-game out of first place at this point)
Parkers Prairie 51, Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 33
Hinckley-Finlayson 68, Virginia 57
Sebeka 52, Pillager 50
Battle Lake 62, Brandon-Evansville 61
Minnewaska Area 67, Benson 44
Melrose Area 64, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 59

Area girls' basketball scores on February 8:
Watertown-Mayer 53, New London-Spicer 46
St. Cloud Tech 78, Willmar 67
Royalton 63, Upsala 53
Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 37, Park Christian 36
Melrose Area 54, Benson 46
Sauk Centre 75, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 35
West Central Area 75, Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 56

More to come.

School closed - "school day" moved to Monday

Due to numerous rural roads being impassable, B-B-E schools will be closed today. Make-up information will be announced as soon as possible. There are countless logistics-related matters that have to be ironed out for school make-up days and extra-curricular make-up times.

I haven't been out of town yet, but I have heard from other parents who made it to their job sites in neighboring towns that rural travel is "not the greatest".

**Numerous updates at 10:30 a.m... the boys' basketball game tonight at Sauk Centre is "on"...also, the wrestlers will host Benson tonight at the high school at 6 p.m. for a dual meet. It will be Seniors Night and Parents Night!

And the girls' basketball game with Maple Lake is moved to Monday, February 11 at the high school.

*ALSO, Monday, February 11 will be a make-up school day. B-B-E schools will hold regular classes on Monday! Spread the word.

Important athletic-related changes

Follow along, please!

First, it should be noted that on Thursday night shortly before 19:00, MN-DOT closed all state and federal highways in multiple western Minnesota counties. This included Pope County. Be aware! Further announcements regarding this will be released on Friday morning.

On a side note, the Brooten Medical Clinic, an extension of the Glacial Ridge Health System, is scheduled to open at 8 a.m. as usual on Friday, February 8. They closed the Walk-In Clinic in Glenwood on Thursday night. In the same breath I want to show gratitude to GRHS in Glenwood for the advertising they've provided the Bonanza Valley Voice in recent weeks for the Brooten Medical Clinic. The Voice will have extended coverage of the Brooten Medical Clinic in upcoming issues. I look forward to providing some "history lessons" on how the medical center came to be in Brooten. (This dates back to the 1980s when GRHS opened the clinic in Brooten.)

Glacial Ridge Health System in Glenwood has been one of the most steady and loyal advertisers and supporters of the Bonanza Valley Voice with the previous owner and with my family. That should not go unnoticed.

Back to sports news:
The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team will host a triangular to complete the regular season on Friday, February 8 with Quad County and Benson. The tri will be at the B-B-E high school. The first match will feature Quad County and Benson. Next will be B-B-E and Quad County. The Benson-BBE match will complete the tri. Note: Quad County is a wrestling co-op comprised of student-athletes from MACCRAY, Renville County West and Yellow Medicine East high schools.

Also on Friday night, Feb. 8, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team will host Maple Lake. This action (C, JV and varsity) will take place at the B-B-E elementary school.

Finally, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball games (C, JV, varsity) with Eden Valley-Watkins that were supposed to take place on Thursday night (Feb. 7) have been moved to Tuesday, March 2.

Bravo to administration for getting all this lined up! This takes nothing less than a herculean effort to move games and line up the logistics of volunteer and paid help. It should not go unnoticed. Please spread the word. In today's technology age, there's no reason folks should be uninformed of these last-minute changes. You can quickly steer people to this Bonanza Valley Voice sports blog - bookmark it while you're at it!

While I have your attention here, I want to briefly give a big shout-out to the B-B-E/Paynesville Pirouettes dance team as they gear up for Saturday's (Feb. 9) Section 4A championships at Montevideo high school. Action begins at noon. Don't miss out on the feature article on the dance team in this week's (February 7) Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper! (Page 7 to be exact)

This kind of blows my mind: Governor Walz has sent members of the National Guard to Renville County to rescue numerous stranded motorists who have been caught in the current blizzard-like conditions. This was announced around 10 p.m. on Thursday night. The National Guard armory in Olivia has been set up as headquarters for this effort.

These weather conditions are nothing to take lightly!

Further weather-related updates are posted at the Bonanza Valley Voice website: https://bit.ly/2GkbiwG.

Late start

B-B-E will start three hours late on Friday, February 8. This was announced shortly before 4 p.m. today.

We are in a challenging period for educators to get the job done. It's important for kids to be in school. However, safety trumps that notion when the weather is as it is. I believe that education should be able to continue at home. There are many ways kids can learn. It can happen from a book or from real-world experiences.

Parents need to encourage kids to learn and to better themselves as a student, whether they're in school or not.

With that said, stay home tonight!!!

Closed...and wrestling playoffs!

Today, Thursday, February 7, B-B-E schools is closed.

Also, in sports news...
The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team earned the No. 4 seed in Section 5A. They will host No. 5-seeded Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg on Tuesday, February 12 in the quarterfinals round. Action begins at 7 p.m.

LPGE/Browerville is the No. 1 seed, Minnewaska Area is the No. 2 seed, and Benson earned the No. 3 seed. The Section 5A Final Four is Friday, February 15.

More to come. Time to go shovel snow!

**Update: as of 8 a.m., the "buses in the ditch" count at Minnewaska Area is two. *Facepalm. Thankfully,  no injuries were reported. I also learned that shortly before 9 a.m., Minnewaska announced that school will close at 1 p.m., with buses running by 12:30 p.m.

I'll never understand that school as long as I live.

**Update: the wrestling triangular for tonight on the home mats with Quad County and Benson has been moved to tomorrow, Friday, Feb. 8.

No word on when the EVW boys' basketball game will be made up. Options are gonna run low for make-up dates.

*Update at 11:31 a.m. = a no-travel advisory has been put out by MN-DOT. You can read more at the Bonanza Valley Voice website: https://bit.ly/2TDFpSG. It includes nearby counties, including Pope County in the Bonanza Valley area.

***Other weather-related announcements will be posted at that web article at the Voice website.

And new updates will be relayed here tonight on a new blog post.

Family Fun Day - and other notes

Click on the link to get a glimpse at part of the Belgrade Lions Family Fun Day from January 26 at the high school: https://bit.ly/2RKpDDI. The video embedded in the Bonanza Valley Voice web article begins with Superintendent Walsh calling a game of Lions Bingo.

Speaking of "fun" and anything related to that...this web article knocked it out of the park! I call this "Captain Obvious" - more and more in today's society, kids are not getting the free play time that they so desperately need. And please note that "free, play time" DOES NOT MEAN sitting and staring at a stupid touch screen device!!!
https://aeon.co/essays/children-today-are-suffering-a-severe-deficit-of-play.

• Plan ahead, folks! The Thursday morning travels by automobile will be tricky and dangerous!

Winning on the road

The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team won 72-32 tonight at Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted. They are now 16-5 overall heading into Friday's home game with Maple Lake.

In boys' basketball news, Pierz knocked Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted out of first place tonight. The Pioneers defeated the Lakers in Pierz 74-62 to square their CMC record at 4-4. HL-W-W is one game behind Pierz in the standings at 5-3. As of now, Eden Valley-Watkins and B-B-E sit in first place together, each with 5-2 records.

And posting some late results from the dance meet on Monday in New London...the B-B-E/Paynesville Pirouttes dance team brought home two nice pieces of hardware! The Pirouettes varsity jazz squad took first place out of six teams. The varsity kick squad placed third. Both JV teams took fourth place in their categories, but both earned season-high scores. This is all really tremendous news for the program. Congratulations!

Central MN Conference girls’ basketball scores on Feb. 5:

Holdingford 58, Pierz 35
Paynesville Area 61, Kimball Area 52

Eden Valley-Watkins 74, Maple Lake 32

Area wrestling scores on February 5:
Paynesville Area 36, New London-Spicer 32
Pierz 51, Rocori 16
Pierz 51, Eden Valley-Watkins 15

Area girls' basketball scores on Feb. 5:
Swanville 50, Upsala 32
MACCRAY 48, Montevideo 39 (MACCRAY's Piper Asche scores her 1,000th career point in this border battle win)
Lac qui Parle Valley 66, Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 62 (two OT)

Royalton 62, Osakis 52

Sauk Centre 80, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 42

Verndale 62, Bertha-Hewitt 35

New London-Spicer 58, Minnewaska Area 44

Area boys' basketball scores on Feb. 5:
LQPV 73, Renville County West 65 (battle of the two top teams in the Camden North Conference; the Eagles take over first place alone with this win)
Litchfield 56, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 38
Willmar 60, Dassel-Cokato 40
Ashby 60, Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 51
St. Cloud Apollo 62, Alexandria 51
Underwood 59, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 45
Watertown-Mayer 69, Maple Lake 50
Foley 67, Kimball Area 54
Henning 75, New York Mills 51
Melrose Area 64, Benson 45
West Central Area 65, Upsala 56
MACCRAY 50, Central MN Christian 44
Sauk Centre 64, Montevideo 55
Osakis 88, Battle Lake 57
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 59, Minnewaska Area 27

Dance meet

Good luck to the B-B-E/Paynesville Pirouettes dance team, as they head to New London-Spicer tonight for their last regular season competition. This was originally scheduled for last Monday, January 28.

And another cold front is chewing us up again in the Bonanza Valley. Just shy of 23:00 on Monday night and the temperature is at seven below zero. Wind chill at 24 below zero. Ouch! And it could get worse as we get into the week. Measurable snow in the forecast on Wednesday/Thursday.

In boys' basketball news...our B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team has climbed into the No. 1 ranking in Sub-Section 5A-South. On the QRF scale, they have surpassed defending champion Hinckley-Finlayson. B-B-E is No. 24 overall in Class 1A, while H-F is No. 28.

Still, a ton of regular season games are still on the table before playoffs roll around in March.

Area boys' basketball scores on February 4:
Royalton 62, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 47
Ortonville 69, Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 60
Pierz 65, Pillager 49
Pine City 76, Isle 58
Osakis 66, Browerville 43
Benson 63, Lakeview 54

On the heels of New England winning another Super Bowl title, I wanted to share this web article from the University of Minnesota-Morris. I knew Monte Ossenfort very well at UMM and graduated with him in 2000.
https://news.morris.umn.edu/news/ossenfort-2017

More to come.

Speech! and basketball

The B-B-E speech team was one of 16 schools represented at the Albany meet today. Billy Tensen (third) and Jesse Westaby (third) were the high placewinners. Next for the speech team is a meet at Swanville on Saturday, February 9.

The website for Goat Ridge Brewing Co. is down right now, but I wanted to share an event they have tonight (Saturday) at their wonderful location in New London. Sam Cassidy, a solo performer, will be singing tonight. You can sample some of his work at this website: http://www.samcassidymusic.com.

Goat Ridge Brewing Co. is owned and operated by Josh Reed, a 1991 B-B-E graduate and a Brooten native.

At Browerville this afternoon, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team won 75-43. They led 38-12 at halftime.

*Update: also at Browerville, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team has a 20-14 lead with five minutes left in the first half. *Halftime: B-B-E 25, Browerville 22.

*Final: B-B-E 59, Browerville 42.

*Below, action from the final minutes of the Holdingford game on Friday night:


Area boys' basketball scores on Feb. 2:
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 78, West Central Area 58
Brandon-Evansville 49, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 40
Henning 78, Rothsay 30
Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 65, Underwood 53
Hancock 52, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 49
Park Christian 61, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 60
Parkers Prairie 81, Ortonville 74

Area girls' basketball scores on Feb. 2:West Central Area 66, MA/CA 60
Brandon-Evansville 49, LP-GE 34
Sauk Centre 59, Albany 58
St. Cloud Cathedral 48, Royalton 38

Huskers

The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team earned win No. 10 of the season tonight by defeating visiting Holdingford 60-58 in Central Minnesota Conference action.

Tomorrow the Jaguars (10-6, 5-2 CMC) travel to non-conference Browerville for a 5 p.m. game.

The Jaguars sit in a three-way tie for first place in the CMC with Eden Valley-Watkins and Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted. HL-W-W (8-8, 5-2) knocked Maple Lake (8-8, 5-3) into fourth place with a huge road win tonight.

Central MN Conference boys' basketball scores on Feb. 1:
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 79, Maple Lake 49 (HLWW cuts down the Irish in Maple Lake in a pure thrashing - definitely an eye-opening score)
Eden Valley-Watkins 60, Kimball Area 45

Area boys' basketball scores on February 1:Rockford Area 69, New London-Spicer 66
Parkers Prairie 87, Battle Lake 64
Ashby 63, Rothsay 46
Albany 60, Becker 52
Fergus Falls 60, Alexandria 51
Royalton 68, Swanville 46
Osakis 66, Upsala 48
Lac qui Parle Valley 51, Montevideo 48
Minnewaska Area 71, Yellow Medicine East 57
Melrose Area 67, Sauk Centre 53

Area girls' basketball scores on February 1:New London-Spicer 79, Rockford Area 34
Dawson-Boyd 59, Renville County West 45
Osakis 51, Melrose Area 42
Swanville 70, Ashby 46
Minneota 60, Yellow Medicine East 36
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 71, Rocori 46
Hinckley-Finlayson 55, Upsala 51
Sebeka 63, Bertha-Hewitt 23
Henning 64, Wadena-Deer Creek 57
Menahga 65, Verndale 30
West Central Area 88, Hancock 57
Benson 65, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 56
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 49, MACCRAY 35
Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 57, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 49
BOLD 65, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 52
Minnewaska Area 75, Montevideo 33
LQPV 63, Central MN Christian 34
Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 60, Lakeview 46

##ConquerEveryDay

Scheduling changes

This blog post will be updated today with a few notes that are coming in to the Bonanza Valley Voice sports department; most, if not all, are a result of the polar vortex that ripped through the upper Midwest and Bonanza Valley area this week.

The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team's triangular with Minnewaska Area and Sauk Centre-Melrose that was scheduled for Tuesday night will not be made up. The Jaguars will not see SC-M this season in a dual meet, and they only could possibly wrestle Minnewaska Area if they meet up in the Section 5A team playoffs.

The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team's road game at Kimball Area has been postponed to March 1. That was also scheduled for this past Tuesday night.