Section final win...and looking at Cromwell-Wright

Here's the link to watch it online:
https://www.prepspotlight.tv/MSHSL/sport/GirlsBasketball.

And here's a web link to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's Smugmug online photo gallery (short link provided): https://bit.ly/3cV50Av. I've got a few events missing from there, but we'll get to that next week!

• Below is some interview material that didn't fit into this week's Bonanza Valley Voice. I printed 14 pages, but if I had more time, 16 pages would've gotten a bigger sports section.

After the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team defeated Ogilvie 67-25 last Friday, the Voice interviewed senior Jenna Dingmann and head coach Kristina Anderson.

Senior Jenna Dingmann said, "We really stress defense. That's been our key this year. We've been on this for three years now. We want to give the pressure. In practice, we do a lot of aggressive shell drills, half court traps, help defense, boxing out and finishing plays. Our practices have been super competitive all year."

Here's part of Coach Anderson's  interview on video:


Head coach Kristina Anderson also said, "I really like our defensive pressure. We continue to attack teams on the defensive end. Our depth really helps us in that respect, getting girls in and out to keep the pressure on. Later in the season, as our rotation has firmed up, our transition offense has really taken off. That goes hand in hand with our defensive pressure."
"We've really been playing great team basketball. You look throughout the year, our box scores, on any given night, we have many different girls getting 10 to 15 points. Eight to 10 rebounds. I love our depth and what it has done for us, and what our girls add whether they are a starter or come in off the bench or play a reserve role."
"We've brought in ninth grade boys at practice to give our girls a chance to work against more length and size. We've got a fun style of basketball. Our practices play a big part of that. We have a 10-person rotation, but in practice they're all going at it against one another. Our girls know how to compete and how to win."

Tip-off for the state quarterfinals is today at 3 p.m., when the Jaguars face No. 2-seeded Cromwell-Wright at Maturi Pavilion on the campus of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. The game will be on both local radio stations.

Cromwell-Wright (28-2) features two 2,000-point scorers, who are also senior and also first cousins, Taya Hakamaki and Shaily Hakamaki. They are both signed to play at NCAA Division II University of Minnesota-Duluth next year. On February 17 on their home court against South Ridge, both Hakamakis surpassed the 2,000-point plateau. They were freshmen on C-W's 2016-2017 team that ended B-B-E's season in the Section 5A finals by a 63-37 score at Little Falls high school. C-W won their state quarterfinal game over Red Lake that season, lost in the semifinals to Goodhue and then earned the third-place trophy with a 78-51 win over Maranatha Christian.

The Cardinals avenged last year's 50-31 Section 7A championship loss to Mountain Iron-Buhl when they beat the Rangers 68-43 to claim this year's section title and return to state after a two-year hiatus from the big show.

Back to the 2015-2016 season, Cromwell-Wright beat Browerville 73-71 to claim the Section 5A title. At state, they lost 70-55 to Wheaton/Herman-Norcross in the opening round while finishing 27-4 overall.

MIB ended C-W's season in 2013, 2014 and 2015.