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.
