Deja vu: girls' basketball falters in final stretch (VIDEO)...and another tragic death

In a rivalry Central Minnesota Conference game on the home floor, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team battled through a see-saw game full of shifting momentum from start to finish against Royalton. After trailing 34-33 at halftime, the Jaguars later built a 53-47 lead. The Royals went on an 11-2 run to gain control in the closing minutes.

Final score: Royalton 64, B-B-E 62. This marks the third straight game between B-B-E and Royalton that resulted in a final score with a difference of one possession. It has developed into quite the rivalry.

*Here's a video from the first half tonight:


At New London-Spicer, the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team took second place with 199.5 points compared to the host Wildcats, who won the tournament with 209.5 points. In a distant third place was Pipestone Area with 148.5 points. The full stretch of details from the invitational will be published in the January 25 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

On Tuesday this week at Eden Valley, the Jaguars went 3-0 while also earning another Central Minnesota Conference dual win. Against Osakis, the Jaguars won 46-15. In the next dual, the Jaguars won 42-12 over the host EV-W Eagles. Their third win of the evening was by a 48-24 score against Class 2A LeSueur-Henderson.

Tragedy strikes hard...

Just tonight, following the basketball game, I learned the most awful, tragic news that a former Jaguar student-athlete was killed in a car-semi accident in the Twin Cities. Shawna Jacobson, a 2011 B-B-E graduate, was killed with her boyfriend when their car was hit in a head-on crash with a semi truck. I don't have any other details, but the couple leaves behind a young son who is now orphaned.

Shawna Jacobson was a member of the volleyball, dance, basketball and fastpitch programs at B-B-E. When Jacobson was a 9th grader, her C-squad volleyball team finished 20-0 in the fall of 2007. They were coached by B-B-E Class of 2006 graduate Holli (Thompson) Breitbach. As a sophomore, she was a member of the JV volleyball team during the 2008 season when the Jaguars placed fourth at the state tournament. She played basketball through her sophomore season and was on the JV team in 2008-2009 under JV coach Katy Westrom (who remembers Ms. Westrom!). Jacobson had a vibrant, outgoing personality and a smile for everyone. She was super kind and friendly. It was an exciting time for her when she moved back to her hometown of Brooten last year; she was a proud homeowner who purchased a home on the golf course. This is a devastating loss for our community and the Class of 2011. I think this is the first death in that class.

Jacobson was a cousin to elementary principal Josie Dingmann and high school English teacher Tessa Gregory. She was a distant cousin of mine, as well: we both shared a great-great-great grandma, a woman who I featured in my newspaper column this week (Ane Boraas of Madison, MN). Jacobson had one pair of grandparents who still live in Brooten: Harold and Harriet Jacobson. Her father was Mike, a graduate of Brooten high school in the early 1980s. Mike is one of our neighbors in Brooten. We are in mourning over this tragic loss of life of a young woman in the prime of her life.

That's all I've got right now. These are sad times.