extended sports coverage for the B-B-E community brought to you by the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper in Brooten, MN. (Address: P.O. Box 250, Brooten) http://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com. ALL VIEWS posted are strictly and without exception the opinions of the newspaper owner and no one else; they're written in first hand format. Please submit feedback in writing to the address posted above. **This is Minnesota's oldest varsity high school sports blog. We hope to keep it going into the future!
Friday, March 31, 2023
Today is going to go south fast
Based on the forecast, I expect the day to get worse and worse hour by hour. It will go south fast!
I expect a lot of accidents out there. Be prepared to slip on a sidewalk or slide your car owards or into a ditch. We have rain coming today throughout the day, then we go down to 17 degrees tonight while picking up 3 to 5 inches of snow. Crazy! We are 150 years past the worst winter of recorded history in the upper Midwest (1872-1873 and I think Mother Nature is reminding us that ultimately we have no say in how bad the weather can get in Minnesota. B-B-E schools is holding an E-learning day today. The schools are effectively closed beyond the availability of the Jaguar Kids Connection.
HERE'S an opening song performed last night by Wonderstate at Olson Auditorium:
I'm very glad we got that event in before the bad weather arrived.
**Bar Bingo in Sedan is canceled for tonight.
And! The Knights of Columbus served a crowd of 150 people tonight at the KaDe Shack. This is terrific!!
The speaker at B-B-E high school is very, very good. It is very worth your time to come and listen to him! Terrence Talley will be speaking at 7 p.m. tonight at Olson Auditorium at the high school in Belgrade. The event is open the public! This has been published in the March 23 and March 30 issues of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.
Talley is an upper midwest native who lived in the Twin Cities Metro Area as a young child and later was raised in Detroit, Michigan. He is a wonderful person to hear from!! Jaguar Country is extremely blessed that our children were able to meet him today.
*Here's a brief video clip from his 1 p.m. session today at Olson Auditorium:
**This video clip provides a good portion of his clearest, most important message:
...and that message is, "Don't Give Up!"
Terrence Telley speaks about the responsibility that we all have to one another that compels us to watch out for each other and take care of one another in our local community. I strongly encourage you to attend tonight's assembly! He provides a message that everyone needs to hear, even if you do not have children of your own. If you are a human, you should see what he has to say. That's about the simplest way I can explain it.
More to come later tonight. I hope you can attend the assembly this evening!!
**And later in the night...the evening assembly at Olson Auditorium was tremendous!!! Terrence Talley provided another outstanding, heartfelt message with a number of parents and community members in attendance. Please pray for safe travels for Terrence as he is driving to Iowa tonight for his next speaking engagement. The roads are icy, and he has a wife and children who certainly need him to get home safely when his work for the week has concluded. During his presentation tonight, he talked about how difficult it is to be apart from his family while he is traveling for his speaking engagements. He and his family know the work he does is important, because the message he spreads is one that everyone needs to hear.
And while we're in the praying mood...let's pray for the community of Raymond as they continue to clean up following the train derailment in their community and the ethanol spill that occured during the calamity. Thankfully...and PRAISE the Lord! No one was injured or killed in the accident.
We still have postseason awards to announce from our winter sports, and hopefully we can cover that across the next couple of weeks. In the mean time, we can still look back and reflect on and enjoy the terrific March playoff action we enjoyed taking in.
Here's the tail end of the post-game press conference at Williams Arena after the girls' basketball team lost to Mountain Iron-Buhl:
*Here's the B-B-E Pep Band performing the school song at Williams Arena at the end of halftime of the state semifinal game:
The B-B-E Resistance Robotics team made history today at La Crosse, Wisconsin, as they were selected to advance to the playoffs of the North Star regional competition. They finished the regular matches in 17th place overall with a 7-6 record.
Their third playoff match starts at about 14:50 today. At this point of the playoffs, they are 1-1 with a win in the first playoff match and then a close 129-123 loss that sent them into the loser's bracket.
UPDATE: B-B-E's red alliance won 162-146 in their third playoff match of the regional tournament.
The fourth playoff match for B-B-E starts at about 15:21. Coach Reed Adrian just reported that B-B-E's team is being subbed out in the next round, which is allowed, but it is unclear what this means for B-B-E's playoff run. The official F.I.R.S.T. page still shows they will be in the 3:28 p.m. playoff loser's bracket match.
Updates from the region playoffs will be posted at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website at the following web article (short link): https://bit.ly/3nr1gAQ.
FINAL update from La Crosse: B-B-E's robotics team's alliance lost the tiebreaker to go to nationals in Houston, Texas. Their blue alliance lost by a final score of 144-130.
The B-B-E Resistance Robotics team started their regional competition with a 113-70 red alliance win in their first match this morning in La Crosse.
Their second match is at approximately 11:07 a.m.
**Update: BBE's blue alliance lost tight battle in their second match of the day by a 65-63 score. Their third match is at approximately 11:36 a.m.
In their third match of the morning, the robotics team's red alliance pulled out a close 65 to 58 win!
Fourth match outcome... the robotics team's blue alliance lost 114-63 in their fourth match of the day. The winning red alliance included Rocori's team, which was sitting in first place at the time. They are on a lunch break now. The next match is set for approximately 13:44...actually 13:55.
*NOTE: further updates to the region competition will be posted at a web article that's being developed this afternoon at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website (short link): https://bit.ly/3LRL1Hc.
SUNDAY morning update: B-B-E earned a win to square the record in La Crosse at 5-5 as their blue alliance won 130-103 in the first match of Sunday. Additional updates for Sunday will be added to the newspaper's website in the link posted above in this blog post.
UPDATE on Sunday: B-B-E's final match in La Crosse is set for approximately 11:58. They enter this match sitting in 17th place overall.
Revisiting the state girls' basketball tournament (VIDEOS)
The state girls' basketball tournament is almost a week into our rear view mirror. It seems so long ago...yet it can also feel like we were just there in the thick of the action.
*Here's part of the state semifinal post-game press conference; Allie Dingmann shares her thoughts:
*Here's Coach Anderson talking defense after the MI-B game:
The state tournament experience was one to remember. It was one for the ages.
Over a week of tech misery has been (kinda) resolved
Big Tech can be the biggest enemy of your life. Since last Wednesday morning, Big Tech has all but totally derailed my newspaper operation after my 21-year old Windows XP computer and 21-year old Hewlett Packard LaserJet printer stopped communicating with one another. (In the tech world, the problem is "drivers" and it is a real pain.) This set off a chain series of events that put the The Voice on its knees. It almost took out the operation on Wednesday afternoon last week as I was trying desperately to cover the pep fests and see the girls' basketball team off to state.
Today I made a breakthrough in my billing department and have at least partially resolved the issue...when you defeat Big Tech, you do feel like a king!!! We'll see how long this lasts.
UPDATE: I managed to get an old LaserJet printer working that was already im my office. It appears that it will replace the 21-year old HP LaserJet. An ink cartridge for this newer model is just $22 for a 2,000-page cartridge. Tremendous deal!!
Taking the rest of the day off. We will hit it hard tomorrow, when I'll get more state tournament videos posted. The Bonanza Valley Voice website has been updated. You can see one of the new articles posted by clicking on the following link: https://bit.ly/3K6ayLu. Great support by this community for our local ambulance service!!!
Crazy statistic of the day: last Saturday, the day of the third-place basketball game in St. Paul, I shot over 600 photos between my cell phone and my Corvette-level digital camera. That just might be an all-time record for photos taken in one day for me. Of that total, about 400 were taken at Gangelhoff Center on the Concordia University campus in St. Paul before, during and after the Hayfield game.
At tonight's school board meeting in the elementary library, a weather-related make-up date was set for B-B-E schools as Friday, March 31 (in school). As of now this is the final make-up day...we will see what else winter has in store for us.
Also, on Monday last week, the high school fastpitch teams started preseason practices. It's anyone's guess when the first games could be played (likely mid-April at the earliest).
Today, the baseball and track and field teams started official preseason practices. I haven't caught up to boys' golf to see where things stand for that program.
Announcing: Meat Raffle at Heidi's Bar in Sedan
The Glacial Ridge ABATE chapter will host a meat raffle on Friday, March 24 at Heidi's Bar in Sedan; Heidi's will also have a food special during the raffle with a $6 taco bar (what a deal!)...bring your dollar bills and be ready for a good time! The ABATE organization is a motorcycle group advocating safety education, fun and riding.
Berge, Schwinghammer named to state All-Tournament team...and more (VIDEOS)
At the conclusion of the Class 1A state tournament on Saturday at Williams Arena in Minneapolis, seniors Abby Berge and Tiyana Schwinghammer were named to the prestigious 10-player Wells Fargo All-Tournament team. This is a remarkable achievement for these student-athletes at B-B-E and for the girls' basketball program as a whole. Keep in mind that the Jaguars finished the regular season ranked No. 10 in the Minnesota Basketball News state rankings, and off-court, statewide chatter did not pick them as a Final Four team. I felt all along we were worthy of a No. 3 seed at state, and lo and behold, that's how the chips fell as we finished in third place.
I told Schwinghammer that these awards are given not only based on the individual contributions by a player during the action but also by how a player carries themselves after the whistle and between plays. There's much more to being a great basketball player than scoring points, and Berge and Schwinghammer are the embodiment of what it takes to lead a winning basketball program.
The leadership provided by the five seniors on the team was a huge part of what the team accomplished this season. It was a state tournament and a season as a whole that we will never forget.
Video from Saturday:
**Here's video from early in the second half of Saturday's third-place game:
Tiyana Schwinghammer's 12-footer made in early in that clip gave the Jaguars a 42-33 lead with just over 13 minutes remaining in the game against Hayfield. She finished with 16 points after scoring 10 in the first half.
B-B-E scoring vs Hayfield: Bree Thieschafer 6, Brooklyn Fischer 15, Tiyana Schwinghammer 16, Allie Dingmann 4, Madison Hofmann 2, Ella Halvorson 2, Adley Hagen 3, Abby Berge 17.
**Here's a short video featuring the player introductions at the semifinal game on Friday:
**Here's video from Friday in the state semis:
More to come much later tonight. It may not be much, however, as I am pressured by the publishing of the March 23 issue of The Voice.
Don't forget! The Glacial Ridge Ambulance pancake feed is tomorrow (Sunday) from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Brooten American Legion. Come out and support a great cause!
I'll get other community-related information posted here this afternoon and add some more state tournament video late tonight.
Tomorrow (Monday) we have a school board meeting at 7 p.m. on the schedule at the elementary school. The Belgrade city council meets at 7 p.m. for their regular meeting of the month.
This was a fun clip!! Part of it anyway...
And Hayfield got the last bucket of the first half...plus the first points of the second half. But the Jaguars put the pedal down again and pulled away from the Vikings as the second half wore on.
Today at Concordia University-St. Paul against the Class 1A state tournament's No. 2 seed, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team displayed an impressive level of grit, toughness and perseverance while battling the Hayfield Vikings in the third-place game. After holding a 35-28 halftime lead, the Jaguars never trailed in the second half on their way to a 65-54 win. This pushed their season record to 27-5 overall, the most wins in school history, while also being the first girls' team in any sport to finish their season with a win.
**Here's video from the opening minutes of today's game:
Last night and this morning I got pretty tired of hearing from various corners of just how tough the Hayfield game would be. How the Vikings would be so physical and make things very difficult for our Jaguars. While it is completely valid to acknowledge just how tough your opponent will be, I believe that some of the chatter online and elsewhere was selling our Jaguars short.
And that's okay...sometimes you are sold short, and you have to go out and prove others wrong!
In the early stages of the game, two teams playing very similar styles were trading jabs and applying pressure to every pass and every shot. It was quite clear: the Jaguars came to play and had no interest in being intimidated by their opponent.
The question remained: which team would wear the other down first?
Early the Jaguars led 6-5 with 15:05 left, but the Vikings used a 5-0 run with two free throws plus a shot off an inbounds play with 11:35 left for a 10-6 lead. Allie Dingmann and Abby Berge both scored back-to-back transition shots to gain a 10-9 lead with 11 minutes to go. Hayfield senior guard Josanne Tempel hit a three with 10:28 left, but Berge countered with a three to put the Jaguars in front 13-12 with 10:03 left. Hayfield tied it at 15-15 with another three-pointer with 8:20 left, but the Jaguars surged ahead with an 8-2 run capped by Schwinghammer's 12-footer from the left wing with 6:45 left for a 23-17 lead.
**Here's a video from later in the first half:
Hayfield's pressure kept coming, but the Jaguars were unfazed across the final minutes going into halftime. Two shots by Berge plus free throws from Adley Hagen and Brooklyn Fischer made it 29-25. A fastbreak shot by Schwinghammer started a 7-1 run which got the Jaguars to a 35-25 lead in the final minute. The Vikings scored on a low post shot with 7 seconds left to get a 35-28 halftime score.
To start the second half, Hayfield scored back-to-back shots in the paint to close it to 35-31 with 16:53 left. Two free throws then cut it to 35-33 with just over 16 minutes to go. With 15:48 left, Brooklyn Fischer answered for the Jaguars by knocking down a three on the right wing. Coach Anderson called a quick timeout to settle the troops and talk it over. Close to two minutes passed with both defenses grinding one another before Abby Berge scored in the paint with 14:03 left. With 13:41 left, Tiyana Schwinghammer buried a 10-footer left of the lane to stretch the lead to 42-33.
With 12:30 left, Adley Hagen's fastbreak layup gave the Jaguars a double-digit lead for the first time of the game at 46-36.
Later with under 9 minutes to go, Schwinghammer stole the ball at midcourt and drove it in for a layup to give the Jaguars a 53-43 lead. The Vikings had one final push in them and cut the lead down to 5 points with 7:29 left. Fischer and Schwinghammer then knocked down back-to-back field goals, and two bonus Schwinghammer free throws pushed the lead to 59-48. The Vikings were unable to chip back into the lead, and they made a classy move with just over one minute remaining to sub down.
In case you missed it, the final score of this historic game was 65-54. Jaguars earn bronze!
I've got a mountain of video, game notes and more to go through in the next 24 hours or so before I have to dig in and get the next newspaper issue ready for press on Monday and Tuesday. I'm actually going through my Border West boys' basketball game notes to review the scoring from this past Wednesday night at Minnewaska.
**Here's a clip of Coach Anderson talking about the state semifinal game in the post-game press conference yesterday in the lower level of Williams Arena:
More to come. I am circling back to the most recent TWO blog posts to add video and more game notes.
In the Class 1A state championship game, Mountain Iron-Buhl made a big statement while decimating the BOLD Warriors to earn their first girls' basketball state title. The final score was 52-21. Late in the first half, the Rangers led 27-15 before completely dominating the game's final 20 minutes. BOLD shot just 17.4 percent on field goals (8-of-46) with 1-of-18 marks on the arc and 4-of-10 free throw shooting. The Warriors actually led 4-0 with 15:16 left. The Rangers didn't make a field goal until the 14:20 mark. At that point, MI-B led 5-4. A 15-0 scoring run ultimately put the Rangers ahead 15-4 with 11:16 left, and they were never threatened the rest of the way.
Also on Saturday, Abby Berge and Tiyana Schwinghammer were selected to the prestigious Wells Fargo State All-Tournament team.
In the Class 1A consolation championship, Underwood defeated Badger/Greenbush-Middle River 47-32 to claim the fifth-place trophy. That game preceded our game at Concordia-St. Paul.
Don't forget! The Glacial Ridge Ambulance pancake feed is tomorrow (Sunday) from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Brooten American Legion. Come out and support a great cause!
**The welcome home ceremony got moved up to 3:45 p.m.
The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team has re-written the record books at Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa!!! Chills are running up and down me right as I type this!!! It is an incredible moment to take in. The Jaguars defeated Hayfield 65-54 in the third-place game today at Concordia-St. Paul to finish the season 27-5 overall. They shattered the season win record, which was previously 24 wins set in 2018-2019. The Jaguars also became the first girls' team in school history to finish with a win. This is a monumental moment.
It's time to pack up the gear and head out.
ANNOUNCEMENT: please pass it on...the welcome-home ceremony for our Jaguars is tentatively set for 3:45 p.m. That is the earliest it would happen. It will be in the main gymnasium at the high school in Belgrade. This blog will be updated again this afternoon with more solid information.
**Lions chili contest tonight at the Belgrade VFW, I won't get video posted to this blog until after 8:00 p.m.
The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team faces Hayfield in the third-place game of the Class 1A state tournament this morning. Tip-off at Concordia-St. Paul is at 10 a.m. Hayfield is the No. 2 seed in the tournament, while the Jaguars are the No. 5 seed.
*Here's the coaches and team preparing to take the court for pregame drills today:
Game updates to follow. There won't be too many updates posted here...until the game has concluded.
The Jaguars trailed 7-6 at about 14 minutes to go. With 5:39 to go, the lead was 23-20 after Hayfield made two free throws.
Halftime: BBE 35, Hayfield 28. Scoring: Bree Thieschafer 6, Brooklyn Fischer 5, Tiyana Schwinghammer 7, Abby Berge 15 (that's all I see on the board).
With 9 minutes to go, BBE has a 51-43 lead in the second half. **With 1:38 left, the Jaguars have a 61-50 lead after Allie Dingmann canned two double bonus free throws (with 2:01 on the clock)...Coach Anderson just called a full timeout to settle the troops!!!!
JAGUARS WIN! History is made! They finished with a win. The final score in a new blog post.
Welcome-home ceremony information will not be posted until after 12 p.m. and possibly not even by that time. The team can't leave the Twin Cities until at least 2 p.m. ****WELCOME home info in a NEW blog post.
Step VI: girls' basketball Jaguars fall just short near the mountain top
Such a difficult loss to swallow. This one was very, very hard to swallow. This is what heartbreak feels like in athletics. It really, really hurt our players. I could read it on them like a book. It was brutal. Raw. Painful.
Ahead 48-37 with 9:55 to go after Harley Roering canned her third three-pointer of the game, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team ultimately gave up a 14-0 run from that point across a 5-plus minute span to see top-seeded and heavily-favored Mountain Iron-Buhl throttle their way back into the game. Not only did they get back in the game, they climbed into the driver's seat and gained a 51-48 lead with 4:43 left.
The Jaguars (26-5) came back to life in the last 4 minutes but came up just short. The Rangers won 61-57 to advance to the state title game.
Senior Abby Berge summed it up best in a succinct manner here in the post-game press conference:
I believed!!! I believed this entire game that the Jaguars could pull it off. They had many believers. It was a game I will never forget.
*Here's the final seconds of the game:
The Jaguars struggled mightily in the opening stage of the game. The Rangers led 4-0 with 2 minutes gone on Jordan Zubich's eight-footer. Abby Berge's free throw with 15:48 to go got the Jaguars on the scoreboard. Tiyana Schwinghammer had a blocked shot and then a steal on an inbounds pass in back-to-back fashion. She earned a second steal with 15:12 left, but Hali Savela's fast break shot with 14:55 left put the Rangers in front 6-1.
Berge then scored on a right-side layup with 14:21 left for B-B-E's first field goal. Schwinghammer drained a floater in the lane with 13:56 left to narrow it to one point. Anna Neyens then hit MI-B's first three-pointer of the game with 13:26 to go for a 9-5 Rangers lead. Sage Ganyo's paint shot with 11:48 left then gave MI-B a big lead early on at 11-5.
What happened next was one of the most incredible moments of high school sports I have witnessed...and it was the first of numerous such moments in this game. On an assist from Anna Jaeger, Harley Roering drilled a three-pointer that sparked a rally. It was the first three-pointer she's made since February 3 in Grove City. It was on that night that she suffered a serious knee injury, but there she was today doing what we needed from her...lighting up MI-B's defense from long range.
MI-B went ahead 13-8 with 11:17 left. B-B-E responded with back-to-back shots by Adley Hagen from eight feet and then Schwinghammer at the top of the key on the arc. That three-pointer tied it at 13-13 with 10:11 left. MI-B Division I commit Jordan Zubich then scored her first points of the game with a shot right under the basket with 8:48 left. B-B-E answered with a 9-0 scoring burst across a span of 2 minutes, 38 seconds. Berge's pair of free throws with 6:22 left gave the Jaguars a 22-15 lead. This mirrored yesterday's win during which the Jaguars found a new gear and reversed an early deficit to go in front 32-26 at halftime against Underwood. MI-B hit two straight shots in the lane to narrow it to 22-19 with 5:40 left. Allie Dingmann came up with a huge bucket on the right block to extend the lead back to five points at 24-19. Schwinghammer then drained another three with 3:41 left to give the Jaguars their biggest lead of the game to that point at 27-19.
In the last 3 minutes, the Jaguars were outscored by a 7-5 margin thanks in large part to Ganyo's three-pointer with just 7 seconds on the clock. Halftime: No. 10-ranked (Minnesota Basketball News) B-B-E 32, No. 1-ranked MI-B 26. At the break, Abby Berge had held MI-B's Zubich to just 4 points; she entered the semis averaging almost 27 points a game.
*Here's a clip from the first half today:
MI-B scored the first points of the second half with 17:28 left, but after they cut it to 32-28, the Jaguars surged and ultimately took that wide 48-37 lead with under 10 minutes to go.
NEXT: the Jaguars (26-5) play at 10 a.m. at the Gangelhoff Center at Concordia University in St. Paul at 10 a.m. tomorrow, Saturday, March 18. BE THERE!! Start planning NOW!
For the game today: the Rangers shot exactly 50 percent from the floor (23-of-46) and made 4 of 14 three-point shots to go with 11-of-13 free throw shooting. The Jaguars shot 19-of-46 (41.3 percent) from the floor and made 7 of 19 three-pointers (36.8%) to go with 12-of-15 free throw shooting. They left it all on the floor. It was a wild game. B-B-E had 19 turnovers to 17 for the Rangers.
That is all for now. I have to head back to run my newspaper for a half a day before turning to the Twin Cities tomorrow for the BIG game!
**Update: the Jaguars will play the Hayfield Vikings for third place tomorrow. BOLD defeated the Vikings 59 to 46 in the other semifinal game today and will face MI-B for the state title tomorrow at noon at Williams Arena.
We have 5 minutes until the pregame hoopla begins at Williams Arena in Minneapolis!!! This on Channel 45 KSTP television as well! WOO HOO!! GOOD TIMES INDEED!!! Mountain Iron-Buhl is 28-3 overall. Our B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team holds a 26-4 overall record and has set and re-set the school record for most wins in a season!!!
Game updates to follow here!!
GAME UPDATES... With 12 minutes left in the first half, the Rangers hold a 9 to 5 lead.
With about 11:30 left, Harley Roering's three-pointer from the top of the key got the Jaguars within three points, trailing 11-8.
With 11:05 left, we are in a TV timeout.
With 8 minutes to go, two Abby Berge free throws tied the game at 15-15 after the Jaguars had trailed 13-8 just before that TV timeout.
ACTION at The Barn has been FAST and FURIOUS!!!HALFTIME SCORE: B-B-E 32, MI-B 26. B-B-E scoring: Fischer 1, Scwhinghammer 10, Dingmann 6. That's all that's on the board right now. Ganyo is leading MI-B with 10 points, while Zubich has 4 points. Luukkonen has 2 points.
With under 6 minutes to go, the Rangers are ahead 49 to 48 and have all the momentum in this game.
FINAL SCORE and more in a new blog post. It won't get fully updated until after 5 p.m.
THANK YOU to these fine state tournament sponsors!
The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team plays in the program's second-ever state semifinal game today at noon. Their opponent will be Mountain Iron-Buhl, who is seeded No. 1 in the state tournament. Remember!! Today's game will be aired on statewide television!!! The state semifinals will be broadcast on KSTP Channel 45.
Here's a video featuring the end of the post-game press conference with media:
You can read quotes from part of the postgame press conference by clicking over to the newspaper website (link below)...I have a stack of work to get through before today's game. Yesterday I shot over 320 pictures in the Underwood game.
A web article is being developed at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website from yesterday's game. You can find that by clicking on this short link: https://bit.ly/3yKtyID. Video was added to the web article from action late in the first half as the Jaguars built a 29-24 lead with just under 3 minutes to go after a 7-0 scoring burst. They had previously trailed 20-15 with 7:14 on the clock.
STEP V: Jaguars dial up double-digit win at STATE! (VIDEOS)
NOTE: this blog post has been heavily updated since 22:00 tonight...
How about that!
Was that FUN or what!!! And guess what!!! In our next game, the Jaguars will be on TV! (Channel 45!!)
At Maturi Pavilion on the campus of the University of Minnesota-Minneapolis today, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball teamused an incredible second-half display of defense to win going away by a 60-44 score against No. 4-seeded Underwood. The win improves their season record to 26-4 overall. They have shattered the school record for most wins in a season, which was 24 (set in the 2018-2019 season when they finished 24-6.)
The Jaguars held Underwood to just 11 points in the game's final 13 minutes. In the last 13 minutes, the Jaguars outscored the Rockets 21-11. B-B-E's crew were pure ball hawks all game long and forced 22 turnovers compared to just 9 turnovers by the Jaguars. The official box score showed 20 points scored by B-B-E off of turnovers to just 6 off of turnovers by Underwood. B-B-E scored 11 points off of the fast break, while the Rockets scored none in the same fashion.
Depth was another factor in the game, as the Jaguars went with an 8-person rotation to Underwood's 7-person rotation. With 4 minutes to go, Underwood subbed in an eighth player as the game began to get out of hand.
Overall, the game had 9 lead changes and 3 ties.
**Here's a short video clip from the first half of the game:
The video begins with 12:32 left in the first half.
With 14:20 left, Brooklyn Fischer's three-pointer gave the Jaguars an 8-6 lead. Underwood made two straight shots and led 10-8 with 13:35 left. After trailing 12-11 and then 16-13, Anna Jaeger swished a 10-footer with 8:14 left to narrow it to 16-15. Underwood succeeded on a three-point play with 7:14 left to take a 20-15 lead with a 10-4 run. After that the Jaguars dialed up the defensive full court pressure complete with a half court trap and tied it at 22-22 with 4:49 left on two Abby Berge free throws.
Fischer later drained an all-alone three-pointer with 3:47 left to gain a 26-24 lead. Underwood ultimately did not make a field goal in the last 4 minutes. At halftime: B-B-E 31, Underwood 25.
In their past two games, Underwood went into halftime in a deficit. They did not feel rattled at all being down six against B-B-E, as their head coach stated in the post-game press conference.
*Here's the last 53 seconds of the first half:
I'll get more second-half notes posted here after 8 p.m.
With 13 minutes to go, the Jaguars led 39-33. By the 9-minute mark, they had expanded the lead to 47-36 and were not threatened the rest of the way.
**Here's video from the final minute of the game:
B-B-E scoring: Abby Berge 18, Brooklyn Fischer 14, Allison Dingmann 9, Tiyana Schwinghammer 7, Adley Hagen 5, Bree Thieschafer 3, Ella Halvorson 2, Anna Jaeger 2. For the game, the Jaguars shot 32 percent from the floor (18-of-56) with solid marks from three-point land (4-of-14 for 29 percent) and also at the foul line (20-of-29 for 69 percent). Noteworthy: this was Abby Berge's fifth state tournament game in her career; in her first state game (March 12, 2020) she scored 18 points...and in today's game she scored 18 points!
UP NEXT: the Jaguars play at 12 p.m. tomorrow at The Barn. Their opponent will be top-seeded Mountain Iron-Buhl. The Rangers defeated Minneota 65-50 today in the 11 a.m. game at Maturi Pavilion.
In the 3 p.m. quarterfinal today, No. 2-seeded Hayfield defeated Badger/Greenbush-Middle River 63-58 in overtime. In the last quarterfinal of the day, No. 3-seeded BOLD defeated United Christian Academy 67-29. BOLD and Hayfield will meet in the other semifinal tomorrow (2 p.m.) at The Barn.
More to come. It's supper time!
Here's a big throwback all the way to the 2014-2015 season...this marks the final seconds of that season in the final game, which was held at a brand-new Alexandria Area high school on March 13, 2015:
I will never, ever forget that game. B-B-E trailed 8-7 early but then took a 22-15 lead with 9 minutes to go in the first half. At the break, the Jaguars led 32-31. It was not meant to be, however, as the Tigers outscored the Jaguars down the stretch. Senior Peyton Miller's three-pointer glanced off the rim in the final 2 seconds. It was a potential game-winning shot had it gone down. "STATE" that year was just not meant to be. The stars did not align for Coach Anderson's crew until 5 years later, the week before "COVID" broke out and overtook our lives. That 52-50 loss in 2015 was such a tough one to swallow. But look where we are today!!! B-B-E is playing in the program's second-ever Final Four round at state.
Speaking of looking back...let's do more of that!
In Coach Kristina Anderson's third season as head coach in 2014-2015, the Jaguars blazed their way to the Section 5A championship, a spot they hadn't been in for 10 years.
It was 2004-2005 when a team led by April Hansen, Tiffany Gruber, Colleen Radermacher, Krista Lundgren, Holly Thompson and others won a sub-section title before losing 57-51 to Underwood in the Section 5A championship at Minnewaska Area high school.
That Jaguar team was facing a Rockets team led by first-year head coach Brian Hoverud. That same coach worked opposite to Coach Kristina Anderson today, as Coach Hoverud is now in his 18th season leading the Underwood girls' basketball program.
In that aforementioned 2014-2015 season, B-B-E went toe-to-toe with state-ranked juggernaut Browerville before falling 52-50 in the Section 5A finals. It was a bitter loss to swallow.
Coach Anderson's teams have ran into other juggernauts in the playoffs since her third season. In 2015-2016, another Browerville juggernaut thrashed the Jaguars in the sub-section finals. In 2016-2017, B-B-E ran into a loaded Cromwell-Wright team in the Section 5A championship. In 2017-2018 and also 2018-2019, it was loaded/stacked Menahga teams who ended B-B-E's season just one game short of state.
Finally, in 2019-2020, the Jaguars tore apart Section 5A and thrashed Ogilvie in the finals to punch their ticket to the school's first-ever girls' basketball state tournament. Their next game was exactly where we played today: Maturi Pavilion. The opponent at state that year was a loaded Cromwell-Wright team that had two Division II players on the roster. The Jaguars put all they had into that game but fell 67-58. Fun stat: then-freshman Abby Berge scored 18 points to lead the Jaguars. That was without a doubt the last normal day of our lives (write it down: March 12, 2020, a day I will never, ever forget). The whole world seemed to change the next day. In the three basketball seasons since then, the Jaguars have made it to state two of those three years. In 2020-2021, we all can think back to the incredible run to the state championship game. Two televised games! And a tough 48-45 loss to Minneota in the title game.
This is where state tournament updates will be posted today after 1 p.m. for our B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team'squarterfinal game against Underwood! Their head coach, Brian Hoverud, was in his first season leading the program when his Rockets defeated our girls' basketball team 57-51 to go to state in March of 2005. I still remember that game! We were in it all the way to the bitter end.
**HERE'S that moment!!! The rare and special moment when you see a team advance to state!
More to come. Updates to follow after 13:00! THIS game is aired on both The Train 106.5 FM and Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood...you can Google their websites and listen online as well.
**STATE QUARTERFINAL UPDATES... With 14:20 to go, the Jaguars have an 8 to 6 lead. Then with 7 minutes and 14 seconds to go, the Rockets have a 20 to 15 lead.
Halftime: Jaguars 31, Rockets 25. Scoring: Jaeger 2, Berge 9, Hagen 3. That is all that's on the board. I'll have to just take a picture of the scoreboard when they get the starters back in to start the second half.
In the second half the Jaguars are ahead 51 to 37 with 5 minutes to go.
With 3 minutes and 15 seconds to go, the Jaguars have a 53 to 42 lead.
FINAL: BBE 60, Underwood 44.
The Jaguars play at 12 p.m. tomorrow at The Barn. Their opponent will be top-seeded Mountain Iron-Buhl. The roads are getting tough. By 3:30 p.m., the temperatures in the cities are dropping below 32°. The newspaper's entourage will be staying in the cities tonight. I'll get a new blog post added by 5:00 p.m. today.
TODAY is the BIG DAY! It is a HUGE day! Today is the day that Jaguar Country heads BACK to STATE!
The state quarterfinal game between our No. 4-ranked (QRF) and No. 5-seeded B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team and the No. 7-ranked (QRF) and No. 4-seeded Underwood Rockets is at 1 p.m. at Maturi Pavilion on the campus of the U of M-Minneapolis. SAFE TRAVELS everyone!!! It is going to be a nasty day for traveling.
Here's Coach Anderson following the section final win last Friday:
Here's a fun short clip! This was yesterday after the elementary school pep fest:
It's time to keep packing the Suburban! Wheels up from the high school at 09:30 SHARP.
Step III: Jaguar boys fall in battle of state-ranked giants (VIDEOS)
A heavyweight slugfest went to Border West tonight.
In a highly-anticipated Sub-Section 6A-South championship game, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team left everything on the floor tonight as they battled to the bitter end against Border West. The Top-15 state-ranked teams duked it out at Minnewaska Area with near-deafening crowd noise where the packed house saw the Buccaneers win 51-47 to advance to the section finals.
The atmosphere was electric at Minnewaska tonight!
Defense was really the hallmark of tonight's contest. Both team's offenses averaged almost 145 points per game cumulatively, but through the first 9 minutes of the game, just 16 points total had been scored between them.
Things looked good for B-B-E in the middle of the first half. After trailing 6-4 with 13:05 left on Border West's layup by Drew Bainbridge, Luke Illies scored a minute later when he was left all alone on the left block. A minute after that shot, Illies scored again, this time in cleanup fashion in the low post for an 8-6 lead. With 9:45 left, Illies became a wrecking ball with a blocked shot on a fastbreak attempt by Border West. Then with 9:16 left, Kaden Pieper scored a close range baseline shot to give the Jaguars a 10-6 lead.
*Here's video from the middle of the first half tonight:
The Buccaneers proceeded to outscore the Jaguars 21-7 across the final 9 minutes of the first half. This set up their second half when they maintained a double-digit lead for a majority of the final 18 minutes. The Jaguars drew the Buccaneers within reach in the final 7 minutes before coming up just short in the closing minute. That hurt.
*Here's video from the second half starting with about 13 minutes to go:
Down 47-36 with under 8 minutes to go, Luke Dingmann's 10-footer started a late rally by the Jaguars. Illies scored with 6:39 left all alone in the paint to make it a 7-point game. Then with 4:45 left, Pieper knocked down two bonus free throws. With 3:48 left, Border West's Cole Gilsdorf made a layup for a 49-42 lead. With 3:16 left, Hayden Sobiech (sophomore) drilled the biggest shot of his career when he drove the right side of the lane and banked a runner to cut it to 5 points. With 2 minutes left, Pieper drilled a long outside shot to cut it to 49-45. With 57 seconds left, Illies scored in the paint to make it a 49-47 game. The Buccaneers sank two free throws to salt the win.
Border West, winners of 22 straight games, now faces No. 4-ranked (Minnesota Basketball News) Henning in the Section 6A championship game this Friday at Fergus Falls. The Hornets defeated Battle Lake 59-45 in the Sub-Section 6A-North finals.
At the Class 2A state tournament today in Minneapolis, quarterfinal winners were Providence Academy, Goodhue, Albany and Minnehaha Academy.
Good night, Jaguar Country! It's 11 p.m. and time for bed. Tomorrow is one of the biggest days of my 20-year long sports reporting career.
Tonight is the night! The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team, ranked No. 7 in the latest QRF power rankings, have sky-high level excitement as they gear up for the program's 19th sub-section championship game. They tip-off at 7 p.m. at Minnewaska Area high school tonight against No. 2-seeded and No. 13-ranked (Minnesota Basketball News) and No. 16-ranked (QRF) Border West. The Buccaneers were 16-0 in the Little Eight Conference.
*Here's a video from after the playoff opener...good stuff here! Bill Dean is interviewing Jamison Reed:
More to come. I am actually working at a church dinner for a while before I have to hit Highway 55 for the game! **The Glenwood radio station's website is: http://www.smoothmagic107.com and also on the radio at 107.1 FM. For The Train (106.5 FM) you can find them online at: https://www.willmarradio.com/the_train. Thanks, Brady and Bill!
GAME UPDATES after 7 p.m.!... **With 13 minutes to go, the Buccaneers have a 6 to 4 lead.
LATER with 4:42 to go, the Buccaneers have a 19 to 15 lead.
The Jaguars are facing an ocean's worth of adversity at halftime. The Buccaneers took a 27-17 lead into halftime after punching the Jaguars in the mouth with a left hook and then two right hooks. With 5:03 to go, Tanner Shelton scored inside the right block to make it a one-point game with the Buccaneers ahead 16-15. With 4:42 left, Border West's Clint Determan pumped in his team's second three-pointer of the half when he canned one on the arc from the top of the key with the defense nil. Twenty-two seconds later, Kaden Pieper slashed in a floater down the right side of the lane to cut it to two points with a 19-17 score. The Jaguars went cold and also struggled with good passing, and the Buccaneers took advantage. They smelled blood in the water and grabbed two steals on the press, the latter resulting in a layup. This shot gave the Buccaneers a 27-17 lead with 1:25 left. B-B-E then misfired on two late possessions. At halftime, Luke Illies is B-B-E's leading scorer with 9 points. Kaden Pieper has 6 points, and Tanner Shelton has 2 points.
(Final score and more in a new blog post...this blog post is a wrap as of 22:00 on Wednesday night.)
I will get video posted after 10:00 p.m. tonight in a new blog post. I have a mountain's worth of work to do to prepare for the state tournament.
The No. 4-ranked (QRF) B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team loaded the bus and left for state just a bit ago! They are dialed in and "loaded for bear" as they head to the Twin Cities for their third state tournament in program history.
Here's the school bus all doctored up and ready to hit the road to Minneapolis!
These are terribly exciting times!!! With very special moments as you can see in these videos.
*Here's a glimpse of the Jaguars traveling down main street in Belgrade this afternoon:
In case you didn't hear, the Jaguars take on Underwood out of Section 6A in tomorrow's state tournament quarterfinals. Tip-off at Maturi Pavilion on the campus of the U of M-Minneapolis is at 1 p.m. Underwood is 26-3 overall, while our Jaguars are 25-4. Underwood was ranked No. 7 on the QRF out of all 148 Class 1A teams in Minnesota. They are GOOD. It will be a monumental challenge for our Jaguars that they are completely and totally prepared for!!!
**Here's an exciting video from last Friday night after the Jaguars defeated Barnum:
*Here's a video I will repost in another blog post...this is Coach Anderson talking after last Friday's win:
A boys' basketball post with game updates is coming later tonight before tip-off.
LET'S GOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!
THANK YOU to Coop's Corner and store owner Dani Davis for sponsoring Jaguar Sports STATE TOURNAMENT blog coverage! And for providing freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies to the team before they loaded the bus!
Two pep fests are planned for tomorrow, Wednesday, for our STATE-BOUND girls' basketball team! The elementary will hold their pep fest at 1 p.m., and the high school's pep fest starts at 2:15 p.m. before the team is sent off for state at 3 p.m. sharp!
Tonight we pray for safe travels for the team and family members who traveled to the RiverCentre in St. Paul for the Minnesota girls' basketball state banquet. The team returns later tonight and then has school tomorrow morning leading into the back-to-back pep fests.
**Here's video from the middle of the second half of the Barnum game last Friday:
Note how I said, "They don't need to score" and just at that point, Abby Berge drove along the baseline and scored in the low post...of course they needed to keep the flow of the game going! Dummy. I digress.
The Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's website is the go-to place to catch up quickly on area community events coming up. You can find that by clicking here (short link): https://bit.ly/3Jgxwh6.
**Speaking of the newspaper's website...I added a special video to the web article posted there regarding the state tournament seeding. You can read the article and watch the video by clicking on the following short link: https://bit.ly/42bizFR.
Step II: Jaguar boys advance to the first 'Ship! (VIDEOS)
In a hotly-contested playoff game tonight, the No. 11-ranked (Minnesota Basketball News) B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team prevailed 58-42 over the No. 4-seeded Hancock Owls. The Sub-Section 6A-South semifinal win lands the No. 7-ranked (QRF) Jaguars (24-4) in the championship game! This was a terrific game defensively, as the Jaguars held Hancock over 21 points below their scoring average.
The Sub-Section 6A-South championship game is Wednesday this week with tip-off at 7 p.m. back at Minnewaska Area. They will face fellow Top-20 team Border West for a section finals berth. The No. 14-ranked (No. 18 QRF) Buccaneers won 70-62 against No. 24-ranked (QRF) Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg in the late semifinal game at Minnewaska. (More on them below.)
Under head coach Chris Anderson (who took over the program in 2014-2015), the Jaguars have landed a sub-section championship berth every season except one (2016-2017)...this is outstanding! The Jaguars played in sub-section finals this century in 2002, 2004, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and now 2023! In the 1990s, the Jaguars played in the sub-section finals in 1992, 1997 and 1998.
**Here's video featuring the opening minutes of the game tonight:
After B-B-E fell behind 19-11 with 6:03 to go, they locked down defensively. Two Luke Dingmann free throws with 5:05 left cut it to 19-15, but Hancock scored on a midrange shot with 4:50 left to make it 21-15. Jamison Reed sank two big free throws with 4:25 left, and Dingmann scored from the outside with 3:12 to go. Kaden Pieper slashed left along the lane and stretched out for a shot off the glass to tie it at 21-21 with 2:14 left. HALFTIME:B-B-E 27, Hancock 23.
*Here's the last 2 minutes and 53 seconds or so of the first half against Hancock:
For the game...the Jaguars shot 29 percent from the floor and made 5 of 24 three-point shots. They went a solid 17-of-22 at the free throw line, which helped keep the Owls at bay. Three players were in double figures: Kaden Pieper (20 points), Luke Dingmann (13 points) and Brady Schwinghammer (13 points). A notable 36 to 24 advantage in rebounds was another big factor in the game.
Hancock (13-14) made just one of 21 three-point attempts, and they were 5-of-7 at the free throw line.
By the way...or in case you were wondering...my Jaguar tie now holds a record of 43-11. We suffered four losses in robotics last Friday, and then we've picked up two playoff basketball wins last Friday night and tonight. Let that sink in: I've witnessed 43 wins by B-B-E teams this winter out of 54 competitions that I've been at including wrestling, dance, boys' and girls' basketball and robotics.
K-M-S vs. Border West...
In the other semifinal tonight at Minnewaska Area, the K-M-S Fighting Saints led 2-0 out of the gate but now trail 7-4 with 15:07 left in the first half. *And a three-pointer with 14:40 left gives the Buccaneers a 10-4 lead. K-M-S's Hunter Kallstrom scored in the low post with 13:50 left to make it a 10-6 game, but the Buccaneers answered with 13:40 left with a quick layup. Later with 12:25 to go, Border West scored on a steal and layup to give them a 16-8 lead.
Deondre Holland's three-pointer cut the deficit for K-M-S to 16-13 with 7:50 left. With 6:40 left, Kallstrom scored in the paint and then sank an and-one opportunity to tie the game at 16-16. With 6:05 left, Border West sank a three-pointer to put them ahead 19-16. Later, K-M-S's Jaiden Henjum sank a three-pointer with 3:30 to go to make it a 22-21 score with Border West ahead.
Holland scored with 2 minutes to go for a 23-22 K-M-S advantage.
Brent Determan sank a three-pointer with 33 seconds left to give Border West a 30-24 lead. Border West's Number Zero then drove down a one-on-one layup with 8 seconds left to make it 32-24. And that is the halftime score. Time to head home!!!
Border West defeated K-M-S 70-62. At one point, the Fighting Saints had what was a 17-point deficit down to 5 points in the closing 2 minutes. The Buccaneers held a 49-31 lead before the Fighting Saints scored 14 unanswered points to make it 49-45. This was the second meeting of these two teams. On January 21 at Wheaton high school, K-M-S lost 71-50 to the Buccaneers.
In Sub-Section 6A-North...Battle Lake won 91-57 against Norman County East/Ulen-Hitterdal. Top-seeded and No. 4-ranked Henning (No. 13 QRF) overcame Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 68-54.
THANK YOU to our sponsors for this playoff blog post: Bonanza Valley State Bank of Brooten and Walz Design Woodworks of rural Elrosa!
Subsection playoffs continue for boys' basketball team (UPDATES)
Tonight the No. 11-ranked (Minnesota Basketball News) B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team faces Hancock in the Sub-Section 6A-South semifinals. The game has a 6 p.m. tip-off at Minnewaska Area high school and was rescheduled from Saturday due to the weather. I don't have confirmation, but I expect both radio stations will cover it.
Today has been chewed up by work on the March 16 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper. There's a pile of robotics coverage to get to.
*Here's a video that includes Kaden Pieper hitting the 2,000-point mark for his career:
More to come with game updates posted here in this blog post after 18:00 tonight...AND BOTH radio stations are here! Both The Train 106.5 FM and Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood. They both stream on their respective websites.
**Update: Hancock holds a 12-8 lead with 9 minutes and 48 seconds to go on the first half.
**With 3 minutes and 7 Seconds to go on the first half, the Owls are ahead 21 to 19.
HALFTIME:B-B-E 27, Hancock 23. Luke Dingmann scored on a steal and layup with just 3 seconds to go. His and-one free throw gave the Jaguars the four-point halftime advantage. The Owls are playing tenacious defense while putting tremendous pressure on B-B-E's outside shooters. It's made for one hell of a game so far.
***In the second half was 6 minutes and 7 seconds to go, the Jaguars have a 44 to 36 lead. **This blog post is a wrap...more to come in a NEW blog post.
Here's where I'll get a few things posted that have been clogging up my office desk in the past week.
Remember that tomorrow, Monday, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team faces Hancock in the sub-section semifinals at Minnewaska Area high school. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. The Owls hold a 13-13 overall record. In the Little Eight Conference, the Owls went 8-8 to finish in fourth place. They average 63.9 points per game on offense and have a defensive average of 64.4 points given up per game.
For those of you who can't make it to the state basketball tournament and plan to be around home next Friday, March 17, there is the big St. Patrick's Day events in Padua as well as the Knights of Columbus fish fry that evening at the KaDe Shack in Brooten. Just a couple things to keep in mind!
STATE tournament tickets can be purchased here...and they should be purchased here. Buying them at the gate at the U of M may not work: https://www.mshsl.org/tickets.
Area boys' basketball playoff scores on March 11:
Russel-Tyler-Ruthton 98, Southwest MN Christian 55
Mountain Iron-Buhl 62, Fond du Lac 61
Dawson-Boyd 57, Central MN Christian 42
Albany 82, St. Cloud Cathedral 50
Sauk Centre 58, Osakis 55
Eden Valley-Watkins 56, New London-Spicer 54
Mora 54, Melrose Area 40
Redwood Valley 56, Montevideo 53
*Here's the National Anthem, starter introductions, tip-off and the first 3 minutes or so of the section finals in Collegeville this past Friday night:
*Here's the first video I recorded in the pits on Friday morning at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks:
B-B-E robotics had just completed their first competition match at the Grand Forks regional and was busy troubleshooting and fixing what went wrong with the robot.
The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team has earned a seed for next week's state tournament. This is big! The Jaguars are the No. 5 seed and will play at 1 p.m. at Maturi Pavilion on the campus of the University of Minnesota-Minneapolis on Thursday, March 16 in the state quarterfinals. Spread the word! **STATE T-SHIRT order information is posted at the very end of this blog post...take note!!!!!
B-B-E's state quarterfinal opponent will be No. 4-seeded Underwood, champions of Section 6A. The Rockets defeated Hancock 64-50 in the section finals last night. They will be a formidable opponent. Underwood has four senior players listed at 5'10" and a fifth senior who is listed at 5'5"...five seniors on the roster just like our team. Look for more information on them to be added here later today.
In last night's Section 6A championship, Underwood trailed 33-27 at halftime to Hancock at Fergus Falls Otter Fieldhouse. The Rockets led 9-2 out of the gate. In the second half, they expanded their lead to as many as 16 points. Junior 5'9" guard Liz Lukken led Underwood and all scorers with 24 points. She was followed by 21 points from senior 5'10" forward Mo Bugbee (6 rebounds and 4 assists) and 17 points from 6'0" sophomore guard Kallyn Grove.
The Rockets are 26-3 overall and have won 17 straight games. Their offensive and defensive numbers appear almost identical to B-B-E's: 65 points per game scoring average with a defensive average of 45 points per game. They went 16-1 in the Little Eight Conference to finish in a tie for first place with Hancock, with whom they split with in the conference series. Underwood's last loss was to Hancock in their first meeting with the Owls, hosted in Hancock on January 10 with a final score of 55-52. On February 9 in Underwood, the Rockets beat Hancock 60-58 to draw into first place in the Little Eight.
On December 6, Underwood took their first loss of the season with a 69-48 setback at Perham, who is a Class 2A state qualifier (rated No. 8 on the QRF).
On the QRF, Underwood is ranked No. 7, while B-B-E is ranked No. 4. Quite honestly, on paper, this game is dead even.
Last season, Underwood lost 61-56 to Hancock in the Section 6A championship, and the Owls went on to finish first with a win in the finals over Minneota. The Vikings, for what it's worth, had won state titles in 2019 and 2021. (In case you forgot, the 2020 state tournament was cut short by the 'Rona.)
2023 Class 1A girls' basketball state tournament seedings:
1. Mountain Iron-Buhl
2. Hayfield
3. BOLD
4. Underwood
5. B-B-E
Random draws: Minneota (paired with MI-B); Badger-Greenbush/Middle River (with Hayfield); United Christian Academy (with BOLD).
Thursday, March 16 schedule (all at Maturi Pavilion):
11 a.m. - MI-B vs. Minneota
1 p.m. - B-B-E vs. Underwood
3 p.m. - Hayfield vs. B-G/MR
5 p.m. - BOLD vs. UCA
If the Jaguars win on Thursday, they will play at noon at Williams Arena on Friday, March 17. That's all I've got right now.
B-B-E STATE TOURNAMENT SHIRT ORDERS!
Don't miss this! The STATE shirt orders are due by MIDNIGHT on Sunday, March 12...less than 36 hours!!! Get on it, Jaguar Country! Here's the website link: Http://www.rambow.com. The STORE code is BBEGIRLS.
