STATE BRACKETS ARE IN!

The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team will open the Class 1A state tournament with a quarterfinal-round game against Cromwell-Wright. The state quarterfinals are on Thursday, March 12. B-B-E is 19-10 overall, while Cromwell-Wright is 28-2 overall and ranked No. 2 in the latest Minnesota Basketball News state rankings.

The Cardinals are also seeded No. 2 in the girls' basketball Elite Eight. B-B-E and Cromwell-Wright will tangle with a 3 p.m. game at Maturi Pavilion on the campus of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

If the Jaguars win (AND I BELIEVE THEY CAN!)...they will play in the Class 1A state semifinals at 2 p.m. on Friday, March 13 at the Barn! Williams Arena at the U of M (other side of the building from Maturi Pavilion).

For now let's just focus on winning on Thursday! There is a consolation bracket for quarterfinal-round losers.

2020 CLASS 1A STATE SEEDING:
1. Minneota
2. Cromwell-Wright
3. Henning
4. Waterville-Elysian-Morristown
5. Heritage Christian

And B-B-E, Red Lake and Fillmore Central all received blind draws for their opening-round games.

The Class 1A state quarterfinals include the following schedule:
Game one: Red Lake (21-9) vs. No. 1-seeded Minneota (30-1) at 11 a.m.
Game two: No. 5-seeded Heritage Christian Academy (22-7) vs. No. 4-seeded Waterville-Elysian-Morristown (26-4) at 1 p.m.
Game three: B-B-E (19-10) vs. No. 2-seeded Cromwell-Wright (28-2) at 3 p.m.
Game four: Fillmore Central (22-8) vs. No. 3-seeded Henning (28-2) at 5 p.m.


*Here's video from the final minute of the first half of last night's game in Little Falls:


That's it for now. The Bonanza Valley Voice is wrapping up coverage at the Lake Superior Regional competition in Duluth. The 2020 season for B-B-E's Team Resistance Robotics is complete.

*Important update on Saturday night: B-B-E school will be in session on Thursday, and students may attend the state tournament with parent permission. B-B-E schools will not be in session on Friday, March 13. The make-up day (and E-learning day) will be March 23. This follows the tradition set from state volleyball in 2018 and 2019.

A pep fest and team send-off will take place at on Wednesday, March 11 at 9 a.m. at the B-B-E elementary school and then at 10:15 a.m. at the high school.

Also, the Jaguar Kids Connection will be open for regular hours of operation on Thursday and Friday, March 12-13.

AND! Last, but not least, fan and charter buses are being offered by the school district. Information on those options will be posted tomorrow.

THANK YOU TO OUR fine locally-owned business sponsors of this Jaguars Sports playoff update!