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 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!
