HOW SWEET IT IS! Girls' basketball STATE-BOUND! (VIDEO)

THAT WAS AWESOME!

The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team is state bound for the third time in four years!

After the program lost six straight region or section championship games to miss qualifying for state by one game between 1995 and 2019, the Jaguars have now won three straight section title games!! This is an incredible achievement that we are immensely proud of. It is well understood that nothing is given to anyone at this stage of the playoffs.

Tonight against Barnum, the Jaguars displayed another punishing level of defense as they racked up a 41-23 halftime lead. It was the same style of defense that helped create a 35-10 halftime lead in the subsection finals three nights earlier.

Barnum featured a tall but fleet-footed lineup beginning with 6'3" post Allison Marine and 6'0" power forward Rayna Klejeski, a U of M-Crookston Division II recruit. They also had a sharp-shooting guard with 5'8" senior Jacinda Wright, who had great range from the outside. The Jaguars knew they had to control the boards, and they did just that all night long after settling into the game. Barnum controlled the first minute of the game with early buckets from Marine and Klejeski, the latter earning a putback shot with 17:17 to go for a 4-0 lead. Just 20 seconds later, Tiyana Schwinghammer buried a three-pointer, but Marine scored with 16:10 left to make it a 6-3 deficit. Brooklyn Fischer's three-point play followed on the next possession, but Marine scored with 15:38 left to give the Bombers an 8-5 lead.

The Jaguars doubled down on their defensive pressure, and four consecutive free throws lifted them in front by a 9-8 score. For the remaining 32 minutes of the game, the Jaguars held the lead. Schwinghammer earned a defensive rebound and pushed all the way on a 3-on-2 break to give her team an 11-8 lead with 12:53 left. Berge's three-point play gave them a 16-10 lead with 11:23 left. The lead swelled to 25-12 on Schwinghammer's drive with 8:20 left, and the Jaguars held the Bombers to 11 points the rest of the way to halftime. A key stretch took place after the Jaguars built a 29-16 lead at the 6:32 mark. Barnum scored five straight points in exactly a 2-minute span and trailed 29-21 with 3:51 left. The Barnum fans were energized, but it was short-lived as the Jaguars limited the Bombers to just one field goal in that last 3 minutes and 51 seconds, a layup by Marine with 2:50 left. B-B-E scored the last 10 points of the first half on field goals by Fischer, Schwinghammer, Bree Thieschafer and a free throw by Fischer.

*Here's video from the middle of the first half tonight:


The Jaguars expanded the wide halftime advantage to a 74-39 lead with 4:50 to go before subbing down to the very end of the bench. Final score: B-B-E 76, Barnum 50.

Junior Brooklyn Fischer led all scorers with 22 points. The Jaguars shot 46 percent from the floor in the game and made 5-of-14 three-point shots (35%) which made for a huge factor in the game. They made 3 out of 9 three-point attempts in the first half, while the Bombers were 0-for-3 on the arc before halftime. The biggest stat disparity for the night was in rebounds: B-B-E 43, Barnum 21. That says it all.

The Jaguars take a 25-4 record into the state tournament and winners of eight in a row. They open the state tournament on Thursday, March 16. That's all I know right now. Joining them at state will be BOLD, Mountain Iron-Buhl and Underwood. Those are the only section winners I am aware of. UPDATE: Minneota won Section 3A to advance to the state tournament after beating Southwest Christian of Edgerton 60-51. Hayfield also advanced to the Class 1A state tournament as winners of Section 1A. In Section 4A, United Christian Academy is heading back to state, where they went 0-2 last season. Badger/Greenbush-Middle River (26-3) defeated Fosston 53-50 to claim the Section 8A title. This rounds out the entire Class 1A state field! I'll get this re-organized tonight in this blog post. Video is uploading as of 11 p.m.

In terms of state seeding, I believe the Jaguars will come between No. 3 and No. 5. They are in the hunt! UPDATE: I expect that the state quarterfinal game will start at either 1 p.m. or 5 p.m. on Thursday the 16th. Keep that in mind!! I also expect the schedule to be released on Sunday morning.

In Class 2A, Albany ended Sauk Centre's season in the Section 6AA championship. New London-Spicer is back in the state tournament after defeating Luverne 44-32 in the Section 3AA finals.

Area girls' basketball section championship scores on March 10:
New London-Spicer 44, Luverne 32
Albany 49, Sauk Centre 41
BOLD 54, Sleepy Eye 31
Underwood 64, Hancock 50
Minneota 60, Southwest Christian 51

UPDATE! A FULL RUN DOWN of Class 1A state seeding will be posted in a NEW, separate blog post. I will report here that the Jaguars earned the No. 5 seed and have Underwood as their first-round opponent!

BOYS BASKETBALL NEWS...
*Remember that the boys' basketball playoff game for Saturday has been moved to Monday, March 13. Tip-off is at 6 p.m. at Minnewaska Area high school against No. 4-seeded Hancock. In the 7:45 p.m. game that night at Minnewaska, Border West takes on Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg. **The winners of those semifinal games on Monday will advance to play on Wednesday, March 15 at 7 p.m. at Minnewaska Area. That will be the Sub-Section 6A-South championship game. As I predicted, it was moved by one day due to the moving of the semifinal games to Monday. The Section 6A finals is set for Friday, March 17 at Fergus Falls at 7 p.m.


THANK YOU to our basketball playoff sponsors for tonight! Coop's Corner of Belgrade and Bonanza Valley State Bank of Brooten!