Conference opener battle

A defensive battle played out tonight between the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team and visiting Eden Valley-Watkins.

At halftime, the score was tied 20-20. B-B-E's Grace Illies hit a three-pointer on the right wing in the final 30 seconds to erase a 20-17 deficit. Watch video of that below:



With 3:43 left in the game, Allisa Knight scored in the paint to pull the Jaguars within one point, down 32-31.

Final score: EV-W 34, B-B-E 33.

The last time B-B-E defeated EV-W's girls' basketball team was on February 19, 2010. The final score that night was 34-30. Earlier that season in the first meeting, the Jaguars won 53-34 at Eden Valley after an 0-6 start to the season. B-B-E went on to go 0-1 in the Sub-Section 6A-South playoffs with a final record of 11-16. EV-W found their groove and blazed their way to the Section 5AA finals where they lost to Watertown-Mayer by a 49-43 score.

I'll never forget that night (EV-W vs. Watertown-Mayer) at SCSU. As the Sauk Centre Herald's sports reporter, I had just watched Sauk Centre win in the Section 6AA finals to advance to state for the second year in a row. I remember EV-W's team taking the court for pre-game drills and thinking, "Holy cow! EV-W is in the section finals!!! That is amazing, because I remember B-B-E going 2-0 against them in the regular season."

EV-W went 8-6 in the CMC that year to take third place alone. Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted was cream of the crop that year and ran the table in the CMC with a 14-0 mark. The Jaguars and Holdingford both finished with 7-7 records for a fourth-place tie.

Up next: the Jaguars (0-2) host Paynesville Area (0-1) on Friday, December 6 in the second CMC game of the season.

Also, I learned tonight that the dance comp at Minnewaska Area this Friday night (Dec. 6) begins at 6:30 p.m. The awards are set to follow two hours later.

Area girls' basketball scores on December 3:
Kimball Area 51, Swanville 47
Alexandria 57, Willmar 50
BOLD 50, Minnewaska Area 39
Royalton 72, Osakis 45 (Royalton is 3-0 after nailing 12 three-pointers against the Silverstreaks)
Annandale 64, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 49
Marshall 61, Hutchinson 51
Holdingford 66, Pierz 55
Sauk Centre 68, Melrose Area 46
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 71, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 33