Two (THREE) varsity wins...! (VIDEO)

I've got results on two varsity events tonight...and waiting on a third.

At the Osakis triangular, the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team earned a big 54-21 win over the host Silverstreaks. I'm waiting on results of their Eden Valley-Watkins dual. Both opponents are in Section 5A, so they are both BIG events! UPDATE: the Jaguars also defeated EV-W, and the score of that dual was 52-16.

At Paynesville for a big conference border battle, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team jumped out to a big 13-4 lead through the first 6 minutes of the game. The Bulldogs clawed their way back and gained a 30-28 lead at the 1:20 mark when sophomore Kylie Pauls banked a three-pointer from the right wing. They expanded that to 31-28 on a free throw by Grace Roberg. Abby Berge's slice to the basket with 5 seconds to go set up a one-point deficit for the Jaguars at halftime at 31-30. Paynesville Area had trailed 25-16 with 5:24 to go before making their comeback.

The Jaguars played through adversity in the early stages of the second half against a Bulldogs team that found its outside range and held a 42-37 lead with 9:40 left. Just 15 seconds later, Bree Thieschafer knocked down a three on the left wing. With 9:12 left, Thieschafer stole the ball on the press and drove in for a layup to tie it at 42-42.

*Here's a video featuring the first 6 minutes of tonight's game:


The Bulldogs scored on a rebound shot and then later made one free throw with 8:32 left to go up 45-42. The rebound bucket, which came at the 8:50 mark, would be their second-to-last field goal made in the game. B-B-E's pressure defense held the Bulldogs without a field goal for a seven-and-a-half minute stretch of the game. Paynesville finally got their last field goal of the game with 1:13 left, but by that point the Jaguars had a 55-48 lead. Final score: B-B-E 56, Paynesville Area 48. Mark it down as eight wins in a row for our girls! Two key statistics in the game that stood out from my view: eight offensive rebounds for Berge and eight defensive rebounds for Tiyana Schwinghammer.

Leading the way in the scoring column was Schwinghammer, who shot at a 57-percent clip from the field with two made three-pointers and a total of 19 points with 10 rebounds and 4 blocked shots. Also in double figures in a tough, physical game were Abby Berge and Harley Roering with 10 points each. Berge had another double-double with 13 rebounds, and Roering made five crucial free throws on six attempts at the line.

The Bulldogs suffered their second loss in two nights, and they are now 6-6 overall and 3-3 in the CMC. They had won 6 straight games after starting the season 0-4. The next game will be a difficult one for them, as they head to Holdingford on Friday.

NEXT: the Jaguars (10-2, 5-1) have two much-needed days of back-to-back practices while a very tough game looms on the horizon. On Friday this week, the Jaguars put their winning streak on the line with a road trip down Highway 55 to Kimball Area. The Cubs were in Royalton tonight for another important conference game. CMC-leading Holdingford played Maple Lake, and the odds were in their favor of moving to 5-0 in the league.

Central MN Conference girls' basketball scores on January 17:
Eden Valley-Watkins 62, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 40
Holdingford 67, Maple Lake 37
Kimball Area 51, Royalton 45 (after losing three straight, the Cubs have now won three in a row)

Area girls' basketball scores on January 17:
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 68, Yellow Medicine East 48
Lac qui Parle Valley 55, Minneota 44
Braham 71, Rush City 52
Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart 77, Sleepy Eye 68
Litchfield 66, Dassel-Cokato 47
Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 65, Rothsay 55
Mountain Iron-Buhl 65, Pierz 24
Parkers Prairie 57, Ashby 19
Nevis 58, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 35
Aitkin 58, East Central 38
MACCRAY 50, Russel-Tyler-Ruthton 40
Wadena-Deer Creek 50, Sebeka 37
Henning 65, Bertha-Hewitt 43
Minnewaska Area 53, Barnesville 51
Breckenridge 61, West Central Area 42
Sauk Centre 63, Osakis 29
Hancock 61, Brandon-Evansville 38
Pine River-Backus 90, Laporte 19
Alexandria 62, Detroit Lakes 42
Upsala 55, Browerville 49

Area boys' basketball scores on January 17:
Staples-Motley 64, Royalton 47
Paynesville Area 77, Yellow Medicine East 36
Annandale 55, New London-Spicer 45
Benson 74, Maple Lake 48
Parkers Prairie 80, Rothsay 74
Browerville 85, Swanville 56
Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 92, Underwood 60
Osakis 72, Upsala 46
Albany 107, Pierz 54
Henning 81, Pillager 36
Ashby 63, Brandon-Evansville 57
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 56, Eden Valley-Watkins 53
Montevideo 60, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 59
Battle Lake 77, Park Christian 50
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 57, Central MN Christian 41


More to come. Video will be uploading shortly (DONE). A new camera (a Canon) that I've been settling in on has been working marvelously! I am waiting for lenses to come in on a different camera (a Nikon) so I can take that for a spin on game night. On a somber note, today/tonight marks 18 years since my dad was killed by a 2,000-pound Holstein dairy bull on our family farm. The date of January 17, 2005 forever changed my life. Losing him created a heavy weight in my life that I will always have to work to overcome. He is still deeply missed.

I'm slowly getting updated on the newspaper's SmugMug online gallery. The sports folder (winter) is caught up through one week ago...January 12. Link: https://bonanzavalley.smugmug.com/B-B-E-Winter-Sports-22-23.

The scoreboard will be updated on Wednesday. Also, a new blog post featuring the prestigious MSHSL Triple-A award is coming!!