An exciting night of border battle action played out at Sauk Centre high school tonight with Hoops for Hope as the feature event.
The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team had a tough stretch in the closing minutes against the No. 10-ranked Mainstreeters. The length and size of Sauk Centre wore the Jaguars down as the home team won 76-56.
A three-pointer by Brooklyn Fischer with 6:08 left before halftime got them within three points, down 26-23. Sauk Centre extended the lead to 30-23 with two shots in the paint, and Brooklyn then drained another three with 3:07 to go to make it a four-point game. Cierra Kortan answered right away with a three-pointer, but Anna Jaeger's three-pointer with 2:15 left made it a two-possession game again at 33-29.
After the Jaguars fell back 38-30, Jaeger knocked down a three on the right wing with just 8 seconds to spare to make it a 38-33 deficit at halftime.
The Mainstreeters held leads of 7 to 9 points at times across the first 9 minutes of the second half, and the Jaguars battled but could not cut it to less than 5 points. Down 53-43 with under 12 minutes left, Bree Thieschafer's three-pointer and then a layup by Adley Hagen made it 53-48 with 10:44 to go. Across the next 3 1/2 minutes, though, Sauk Centre used a 10-0 run to quell B-B-E's momentum. The Jaguars suffered a five-minute long field goal scoring drought. Brooklyn Fischer's layup with 5:42 left cut it to 63-51. The Mainstreeters had one last scoring burst with a 7-0 run to extend it to 70-51 with 3:12 left on a downtown three-pointer by Kortan.
The Mainstreeters have been playing extremely well as of late, as they recently beat No. 4-ranked (Class 2A) New London-Spicer last Saturday the 20th; they've won 8 straight and are 14-3 overall.
**Here's a video from late in the first half of the girls' basketball game:
The Jaguars shot 42 percent from the floor but cooled off in the second half with just 28 percent shooting. They were 6-of-12 on the arc in the firsf half but made just one out of 7 three-point shots in the second half. They went a cold 13-of-24 at the line.
Next: the girls' basketball team (10-8) travels to Kimball Area next Tuesday, January 30.
After a large group photo with all grades 9-12 basketball players on both teams' boys' and girls' squads, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team played an incredible game against the No. 10-ranked Mainstreeters. After building an initial 10-0 lead, the Jaguars had no let up in their defensive intensity as the first half played out. A three-pointer by Hayden Sobiech with 8:57 to go gave them a 23-7 lead, with B-B-E also getting two early threes by Josh Walstrom. Sobiech's three-point play made it 26-9 with 7:06 to go, and Luke Illies later knocked down a three at the top of the key for a 31-15 lead with 5:02 to go.
Illies got a steal and followed it with a slam dunk for a 37-15 lead, and Kaden DeRoo made two free throws and later a layup to make it 39-22.
The Mainstreeters got a huge lift by back-to-back threes by sophomore guard Jacob Drevlow in the closing minute. At halftime, the Jaguars led 39-28.
Here's a video featuring part of the middle of the first half of the boys' basketball game tonight:
Final score: B-B-E 71, #10 Sauk Centre 56. The Jaguars played lights out defense from wire to wire against a quick, physical and high-scoring Mainstreeters squad that is currently challenging for the West Central Conference title. They are coached by Kevin Kuefler, B-B-E Class of 2011 graduate who helped lead his Jaguars to the Class 1A state championship game his senior year.
Luke Dingmann had a career night against tough, pressure defense applied by the Mainstreeters, tallying 23 points, 7 assists, 7 rebounds and 4 steals. Junior guard Josh Walstrom gave a huge boost with 9 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists.
A key difference in the game was B-B-E's 50 percent field goal shooting compared to 34 percent by the Mainstreeters.
Next: the boys' basketball team (10-6) has a huge, huge rematch with Paynesville Area in Brooten next Thursday in Central Minnesota Conference action.
*Saturday morning update: the Jaguars (boys) have moved up to No. 2 in the Sub-Section 6A-South QRF rankings. They have been hovering in the No. 3 position for the past few weeks. Brandon-Evansville slipped to No. 3, and they just suffered an 81-59 loss to Hillcrest Lutheran Academy, one of the top teams in the north half of Section 6A.
Area girls' basketball scores on January 26:
New London-Spicer 81, Montevideo 36
Minnewaska Area 44, BOLD 36
Melrose Area 55, Benson 42
Eden Valley-Watkins 55, Paynesville Area 46 (a Central MN Conference game, with the Eagles snapping a 4-game losing skid)
Braham 60, Maple Lake 20
Brainerd 51, Willmar 43
Browerville 58, Swanville 54
Osakis 39, Upsala 38
Central MN Christian 63, MACCRAY 25
Lakeview 59, Renville County West 52
Minneota 71, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 44
Area boys' basketball scores on January 26:
Watertown-Mayer 59, New London-Spicer 58
Dassel-Cokato 63, Litchfield 50
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 66, Kimball Area 53 (a Central MN Conference game at Grove City)
Albany 63, Melrose Area 57 (this was a key Section 6AA match up between neighboring rivals)
Border West 63, Underwood 50
Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 81, Brandon-Evansville 59
Rothsay 69, Ashby 55
Battle Lake 67, Parkers Prairie 64
West Central Area 60, Montevideo 46
Osakis 72, Little Falls 69
