Conference showdown

The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team is having a terrific night so far at Eden Valley-Watkins in a battle against the defending Central Minnesota Conference champions. Through the first 18 minutes of play, the Jaguars have built a 25-16 lead.

Initially, the Jaguars had a sluggish start and trailed 10-4 before turning things around. Grace Illies hit a mid-range bank shot for B-B-E's first lead of the night at 16-14 with approximately four minutes to go.

*Update in the second half...the Jaguars have a 36-30 lead with under eight minutes to go.

Final score: B-B-E 44, EV-W 42. The Jaguars defeat the Eagles for the first time since 2011! They survived despite making just nine of 21 free throw attempts in the game.

The Smooth Magic 107 FM post-game awards were as follows: Josie Knutson and Jenna Dingmann both earned Stony Creek Dairy play of the game certificates. The Lakeside Ballroom player of the game will be Karsee Kampsen (one large one-topping pizza of her choosing).

Next: the girls' basketball team (4-6, 3-2) travels to Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted (7-3, 2-1) next Tuesday.

Also tonight, more great news!

At Holdingford, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team won 61-46 for their third win of the season. They snapped a two-game losing skid in the process while moving to 2-1 in the CMC. The Huskers fall to 2-3 overall and 0-2 in the CMC.

B-B-E led 34-26 at halftime.

Next: the boys' basketball team (3-6) has a huge Section 5A matchup at Upsala (4-5) next Monday.

Central Minnesota Conference girls' basketball scores on January 2:
Maple Lake 45, Kimball Area 32
Royalton 76, Paynesville Area 38
Holdingford 73, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 51

Central MN Conference boys' basketball scores on January 2:
Paynesville Area 56, HL-W-W 53 OT

Area girls' basketball scores on January 2:
Henning 72, West Central Area 48
Menahga 61, Park Rapids Area 48
Annandale 57, St. Cloud Cathedral 50
Breckenridge 58, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 53

Area boys' basketball scores on January 2:
Benson 83, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 36
Rocori 73, Albany 66
Parkers Prairie 64, Rothsay 36
Frazee 90, Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 54
MA/CA 64, Breckenridge 53
BOLD 78, Renville County West 63
Osakis 75, Staples-Motley 55
Willmar 72, Sauk Rapids-Rice 70
West Central Area 86, Lake Park-Audubon 32

THANK YOU to Coop's Corner of Belgrade for sponsoring this evening's Jaguar Sports update. They are a great example of a locally-owned business whose support is what makes the newspaper's sports coverage possible.