Conference series finale, and a conference title!

In their last-ever meeting in conference play, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team and Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted are duking it out tonight at the B-B-E high school. Next season, HL-W-W will join the Wright County West Conference.

At halftime, the Jaguars held a 32-27 lead.

With 11 minutes left in the game, the lead is now 47-35.

The lead stood at 52-39 before the Lakers scored five straight. A reverse layup by Grace Illies then put the Jaguars ahead 54-44 with six minutes to go.

With under three minutes to go, the Lakers cut it down to 58-54. At the 2:37 mark, Coach Anderson called a timeout.

With 1:43 left, the Lakers got a steal at midcourt and scored to make it 59-56.

Then with 1:13 left, Illies drained two double bonus free throws, making it 61-56.

Illies went 1-of-2 at the line with 56 seconds left for a five-point lead.

Final score: B-B-E 67, HL-W-W 62. The Jaguars take the season series with a 2-0 mark against the Lakers this season. They improve to 13-8 overall with their seventh win in a row (8-4 CMC). HL-W-W falls to 13-8 overall and 5-6 in the CMC. Up next: the Jaguars travel to Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City high school on Monday for a non-conference game.

And other big news!

The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team went 3-0 tonight at a quadrangular at Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted high school. The three wins raise their regular season record to 18-3. This is the second-best regular season mark ever in 32 years of B-B-E Jaguars wrestling.

The Jaguars won the Central Minnesota Conference title outright with a 65-12 win over HL-W-W tonight. They finish 6-0 in the CMC and finish undefeated in a dual meet schedule for the first time since the 1997-1998 season. This is the fourth wrestling conference title in B-B-E history. After finishing second place in the CMC for the past five seasons, they can finally claim the mantle of conference champions!!!

In the other duals at HL-W-W, B-B-E defeated Watertown-Mayer/Mayer Lutheran 47-21 and Sibley East 64-6.

More to follow later.

Central MN Conference girls' basketball scores on February 7:
Royalton 64, Holdingford 57 OT (huge win for Royalton; Holdingford would have pulled into a tie for first place with the Royals if they won)
Eden Valley-Watkins 45, Maple Lake 24

Area girls' basketball scores on February 7:
Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 62, Browerville 44
Albany 51, Little Falls 26
Pine City 63, East Central 56
Rush City 58, Braham 56 OT
Onamia 63, Isle 32
Medford 57, Waterville-Elysian-Morristown 43
Parkers Prairie 60, Osakis 49
Upsala 66, Swanville 56
Sauk Centre 84, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 25
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 71, Melrose Area 57
BOLD 57, Montevideo 44  

Area boys' basketball scores on February 7:
Renville County West 54, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 34
Central Minnesota Christian 70, Dawson-Boyd 45
BOLD 82, Springfield 80
West Central Area 75, Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 51
Minnewaska Area 79, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 68
MACCRAY 76, Lac qui Parle Valley 68
Browerville 57, W-H-A 53
Ashby 61, Battle Lake 35