Girls' basketball wins tough, physical battle with Falcons

Jocelyn Dickhoff, who passed away in July 2013, was part of the B-B-E Class of 2024.

Finding another gear on the defensive end in the latter part of the first half, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team survived a tough, physical battle with Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City tonight to conclude the home portion of the regular season schedule. Both teams scored 24 points in the second half, but a 30-23 halftime lead propelled the Jaguars to a 54-47 win.

B-B-E's early leads of 4-2 and 7-6 were erased as the Falcons found their shooting touch and surged ahead to gain a 17-11 lead with 7:17 left on a paint shot by sophomore Ruby Klinger. The Jaguars toughened up their interior defense and limited A-C-GC to just 6 points in the final 7 minutes of play going into halftime.

A-C-GC (12-10) whittled B-B-E's lead down to 39-27 with 11 minutes to go. Just over a minute later, Klinger scored in the paint to make it 41-39. The Jaguars pushed the lead to 47-43 on a layup by Macey Roering with 4:50 to go, but Klinger answered again for the Falcons with a shot in the paint with 4:21 left. The Jaguars displayed incredible pressure defense down the stretch and held the Falcons to just 2 points in the game's final 4 minutes.

For the game, the Jaguars shot 32 percent from the floor with a rough 3-of-21 mark on the three-point line. They went 19-of-26 at free throws and were led by Brooklyn Fischer's 19 points. Reserve guard Macey Roering was the only other Jaguar in double figures, as the eighth grader had 12 points in a strong performance that also included four rebounds, two blocked shots, one steal and one assist.

B-B-E improves to 8-5 in the Central Minnesota Conference and solidifies their hold on third place. Second-place Royalton was at No. 18-ranked Holdingford tonight. The Jaguars (14-10) now hit the road for two games to finish out the regular season. They travel to Maple Lake this Friday and then head south for a Monday border battle next week at Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg.

Tonight was Seniors Night for the team, and the seniors themselves took time to honor the memory of their fallen classmate, Jocelyn Dickhoff, who passed away in July 2013 at the age of seven. Jocelyn had battled cancer since she was just a year old. It was a heartfelt moment when senior Anna Jaeger called Joe and Kayla Dickhoff to come down from the stands and receive hugs and flowers from the basketball seniors.

Some things are just not right, and a child dying at seven years old is just not right.

Central MN Conference girls' basketball scores on February 13:
Eden Valley-Watkins 42, Maple Lake 23
Holdingford 51, Royalton 42
Paynesville Area 53, Kimball Area 49

Area girls' basketball scores on February 13:
Nevis 52, Mahnomen/Waubun 35
Minnewaska Area 71, Melrose Area 31
Sauk Centre 66, Montevideo 37
New London-Spicer 76, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 21
Little Falls 61, Swanville 29
Albany 60, Pequot Lakes 47
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 59, Lac qui Parle Valley 26 Verndale 54, Henning 44
BOLD 58, Central MN Christian 51
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 75, Browerville 65 (the Tigers led 38-30 at halftime in Kerkhoven)