Girls' basketball season opener

The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team won 64-25 at Royalton tonight to open the 2021 season and the Central Minnesota Conference schedule. They host Paynesville Area next Tuesday at the high school. The event is not open to the general public. I mistakenly said they host Kimball on Saturday, but the Kimball home game is next Thursday night.

Tonight against the Royals, the Jaguars held a 43-13 halftime lead.

Allisa Knight was leading scorer with 18 points on red hot 52 percent field goal shooting. Next was fellow senior Josie Knutson with 12 points, including a stellar five-for-six performance at the free throw line. Eight Jaguars landed in the scoring column, and as a team, they shot very respectable 41 percent on the three-point line (5-for-12). With free throws, the Jaguars were a modest 60 percent (9-for-15).

Royalton went 23-6 last season and won both contests with the Jaguars. They were sub-section runners-up on Section 6AA, falling to Albany 56-49 to end their season. Graduation hit them hard, as they lost seven very experienced, record-breaking, talented seniors last May. This year's Royals team has just five returning players with varsity experience, including two seniors, one junior, one sophomore plus a freshmen who moved into the Royalton district with prior varsity experience from a different school.