extended sports coverage for the B-B-E community brought to you by the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper in Brooten, MN. (Address: P.O. Box 250, Brooten) http://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com. ALL VIEWS posted are strictly and without exception the opinions of the newspaper owner and no one else; they're written in first hand format. Please submit feedback in writing to the address posted above. **This is Minnesota's oldest varsity high school sports blog. We hope to keep it going into the future!
Wednesday, December 25, 2024
Merry Christmas to Jaguar Country! (VIDEO)
Today is Christmas in Jaguar Country!
I had the good fortune of having actual "free time" (whatever that is) to edit some video from the past few weeks. Some of it is uploading, but I'll post the embed code here for one video that should be viewable after noon today (Wednesday).
Here's the Middle School Choir singing "I Want a Hippopotamus For Christmas" at the winter concert a week-and-a-half ago:
Altogether, the band and choir numbers in grades 6-12 are on the rise at B-B-E. This is a good thing. Not only is it is GOOD thing, but it is also a NECESSARY change! Parents need to get their children out of the terrible habit of quitting music when they get past the middle school grades. I go back to Christmas of 1938, and the Brooten high school band and choir numbers approached 120. That was little Brooten High School during the tail end of the Great Depression.
It's Christmas Eve...and let's hear from Coach Lou Holtz! (VIDEOS*)
Multiple Christmas Eve worship services are taking place today and also tomorrow for the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. I am still holding out hopes of going out to South Lake Johanna Lutheran church for their 3:30 p.m. worship this afternoon.
First, I've got some catching up to do in the office! Plus, I have more church video to edit and post. Then I'll backtrack to work on reviewing sports photos and video from the past week.
**Added to this blog post at midnight on Christmas Eve...
Coach Lou Holtz produces multiple podcasts throughout the year and continues to spread positive, uplifting messages in spite of being 87 years old. He is great! I hope you enjoy his four-minute video posted here. One of his nuggets of wisdom shared in the video is that during family time such as gathering at the dinner table, children should not be on their cell phones! He was blown away by seeing children on cell phones while sitting at the dinner table. It disturbed him. It should disturb you, too!
...and back to the world of local sports...
Here's a second half video from last Friday's girls' basketball game:
The video begins with 4:26 left in the game and the Huskers holding a 49-41 lead.
Here's a video from tonight's Christmas Eve worship at Grace Lutheran Church:
And good news! I made it out to South Lake Johanna earlier today. Video is uploading.
Click on the following link to watch today's Christmas Eve worship at South Lake Johanna church: https://shorturl.at/hQIcE.
At Pequot Lakes today for the second and final day of the 38-team Jackhammer Invitational, the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team finished in a tie for 10th place with Eagan with 97.5 team points. It was a remarkable finish while they had multiple open weights. Here's the weight divisions and who competed at each one for B-B-E: 107 Emmitt Skarre, 114 Noah Jensen, 121 Jude Thompson, 127 Noah DeRoo, 133 Jace Mueller, 139 Louie Tensen, 145 Dylan Koob, 160 Brett DeRoo, 172 Andrew Spanier, 215 Carson Gilbert. The Jaguars had open weights at 152, 189 and 285 pounds.
Brett DeRoo came out of the tournament as champion by winning the 160-pound bracket. In the championship, DeRoo won a thriller by a 2-1 ultra-tiebreaker decision against top-seeded Colbe Tappe of Staples-Motley. Fellow senior Carson Gilbert emerged as champion of the 215-pound bracket with a 5-0 record, with 4 of his 5 wins coming by fall. He won his semifinal match by a 17-1 tech fall (4:34).
Getting caught up on dance team news...
Last Saturday, December 14 at the Albany Invitational, the B-B-E/Paynesville Pirouettes dance team competed with three squads. In the JV Kick division, the Pirouettes took first place out of 7 teams, which is one of the best performances by a JV team that I can remember in the program's history.
The Pirouettes were at a dance competition today at Melrose Area high school. For an unprecedented third straight time, the JV Kick squad earned a first-place finish. They are really quite fabulous. The home competition that was supposed to be this past Thursday night will be rescheduled to January.
In other news...
The Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website has a few Christmas-related videos/web articles posted: https://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com.
Added on Sunday evening...I'm finally getting closer to being caught up on uploading winter sports photos to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's SmugMug galleries. Here's the direct link to find the winter sports albums: https://bonanzavalley.smugmug.com/B-B-E-Winter-Sports-24-25.
Here's a video from the last part of the Brooten Community Church's Sunday School Christmas program:
Speaking of church news...the directory listing in the December 19 issue had an error for Crow River Lutheran. Their Christmas Eve worship is at 3 p.m. and not 5 p.m. as was posted on page 3 of the newspaper.
Saturday brought me an afternoon of basketball games with the Class of 2031 and Class of 2032 girls' basketball teams in action in their first Highway 55 league games. The two squads played at Cold Spring at Rocori high school.
I've got a small surplus of girls' basketball video to post across the next week.
Here's a video from early in the 2nd half of the Holdingford game:
In College Basketball news...
B-B-E Class of 2024 graduate Brooklyn Fischer played 39 out of 40 minutes on Saturday, December 14 while pouring in 27 points for her St. Cloud Technical and Community College Cyclones against visiting Central Lakes College-Brainerd. The Cyclones lost, however, by a 57-52 score to fall to 4-6 overall heading into their Christmas break.
Jaguars lose twice on the basketball courts, wrestling faring well at the Jackhammer (VIDEO)
The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team suffered a 71-70 loss at Eden Valley-Watkins tonight. A late 10-point lead with about 3 minutes to go did not hold up. The Eagles, who entered the game with a 1-5 record, scored the game-winning shot on a banked three-pointer.
The Jaguars (0-6) led 38-23 at halftime but gave up 48 points in the second half. Senior Josh Walstrom led the Jaguars with 20 points, 2 assists, 2 blocked shots, 5 rebounds and one steal. The team's defensive average is 71 points a game, and they are off to their toughest start to a season since 2006-2007. In that season, the Jaguars started 1-1 before losing 14 straight games.
In a home game against Holdingford, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team fell to 1-1 in the Central Minnesota Conference with a 57-51 loss. The halftime score was 23-23.
The game was neck-and-neck through the early minutes of the second half. Mya Worms scored in the paint to tie it at 32-32 with 10:32 remaining. Adley Hagen went 2-for-2 at the line to give the Jaguars a 34-32 lead, but the Huskers (6-2) proceeded to go on a 14-0 run and take control of the game. That stretch of the game during which the Jaguars were scoreless was one second shy of 4 minutes.
Adley Hagen's 19 points, 5 rebounds and 3 steals led the Jaguars, who fall to 4-5 overall.
The JV girls' basketball team defeated Holdingford 42-29, and the C-squad Jaguars lost a close one 33-28.
Here's a video featuring the starter introductions and more at the beginning of the varsity game:
I'll get caught up on wrestling news and add that here later tonight.
And in wrestling news...
At Pequot Lakes high school today, the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team is competing in the Jackhammer Invitational, which features a total of 38 teams from across Minnesota. They are doing incredibly well and sit in a tie with Eagan for 9th place with 62 points after Day One. In first place is Staples-Motley with 151 points. In fourth place is Paynesville Area (84.5 points), while Minnewaska Area is in fifth place with 79 points.
At 160, Brett DeRoo won by fall (0:33) to get into the quarterfinals. In his quarterfinal match, DeRoo defeated LPGE/Browerville's Logan Thom by fall (0:44) to land a spot in the championship semifinals. At 215, Carson Gilbert picked up three straight wins by fall with times of 2:28, 1:37 and 5:43. The last pin was in the quarterfinals, so he joins DeRoo in the championship semifinals.
Area girls' basketball scores on December 20:
Foley 73, Paynesville Area 53
Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 64, Browerville 24
Ogilvie 66, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 61
West Central Area 51, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 33
Renville County West 55, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 48
Pine River-Backus 73, Verndale 25
Little Falls 67, Swanville 27
Montevideo 61, Yellow Medicine East 39
Central Minnesota Conference boys' basketball scores on December 20:
Paynesville Area 83, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 66
Holdingford 93, Maple Lake 50
Area boys' basketball scores on December 20:
New York Mills 69, Sebeka 61
PACT Charter 62, Brandon-Evansville 61
Montevideo 61, BOLD 39
Minnewaska Area 61, Melrose Area 45
Ashby 56, Battle Lake 44
Ada-Borup West 71, Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 59
Henning 60, Parkers Prairie 39
Albany 71, Rocori 42
Dawson-Boyd 84, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 46
West Central Area 62, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 59
Benson 69, Lac qui Parle Valley 66
'Joy to the World' at Grace Lutheran...and GAME NIGHT! (VIDEO)
If you haven't already, now is the time to start getting into the Christmas spirit!
In this week's Bonanza Valley Voice, you can read a feature story about the history of Grace Lutheran Church in Belgrade. The article includes the bulk of Pastor Lisa's sermon at Grace on December 8 when they dedicated a sanctuary remodel.
Here's the Grace Lutheran choir singing last Sunday as part of a special worship that included the Sunday School Christmas program:
AND! Don't forget the Bonanza Valley State Bank Christmas customer appreciation they have today from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. This was advertised on page 8 of this week's Voice.
Merry Christmas! Sports blogging resumes later this afternoon. I hope you can make it to the home girls' basketball game tonight. It would be terrific to see a packed house for the last home Jaguar athletic event of the 2024 calendar year.
Game updates from Belgrade to follow here... In the JV game, the Jaguars won 42-29 againstHoldingford.
In the varsity girls game, the Jaguars and Huskers are tied 23 to 23. At Eden Valley, the Jaguar boys are ahead 38-23 at halftime.
Today is the day to drive to Padua! If you haven't already...
The many fine patrons of the Padua Pub are invited to a Customer Appreciation Lunch/Supper meal on Wednesday, December 18 (TODAY) at the Pub. They will serve a complimentary lunch from noon to 8 p.m.
Now that I'm out from under the massive weight of a massive, 16-page newspaper that published earlier today, I'll circle back and fill out the previous sports blog post. Video is coming. Update: the previous blog post received additions and edits after 8 p.m. on Wednesday night.
Thursday, December 19 update...
B-B-E schools began weather announcements for the 2024-2025 school year with a two-hour late notice released last night. Earlier today, on Thursday, the school announced that they will be closed today with the exception of the daycare in Brooten. All evening activities are also cancelled, including the home dance competition. The dance comp will be rescheduled (hopefully)...stay tuned!
Also, the Bonanza Valley Voice website has been updated with three new web articles with video...click here to see that: https://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com.
At a home triangular with their first action on the home mats this season, the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team suffered their second Central Minnesota Conference dual loss of the season when No. 3-ranked Holdingford won 45-23 in the first dual of the night. The Huskers then faced New London-Spicer in the second dual, and the Wildcats prevailed 32-29 after the NL-S heavyweight won a major decision. In the final dual, the Jaguars faced No. 10-ranked (Class 2A) NL-S, and they trailed 6-4 after the 114-pound match was complete after Noah Jensen won at 114 pounds. Final score: NL-S 51, B-B-E 23.
Next: the wrestling team travels north to Pequot Lakes for Friday/Saturday action at the Jackhammer Invitational this weekend. The first-round matches start at 1 p.m. on Friday.
Here's a video recorded early in the NL-S dual tonight:
The video begins with Noah Jensen battling at 114 pounds against NL-S's Jett Hoffman. Jensen won by fall (4:38) to tie the dual at a 6-6 score. The Jaguars quickly fell behind by a wide margin, however, with NL-S winning the next 6 weight divisions. In that stretch, NL-S won 3 by fall and another by forfeit (152).
At 160, Brett DeRoo won a 16-1 tech fall against Caleb Nelson. Andrew Spanier won by fall (1:39) against Grant Mccain at 172. The Wildcats took the 189-pound weight by forfeit. Carson Gilbert then won by fall late in the third period (5:43) against Garret Leenstra to cut the deficit to 45-23. The Wildcats won the 285-pound division by fall.
In basketball news...
In their Central Minnesota Conference opener, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team endured a 65-54 loss to Kimball Area on the home floor. They were competitive in the game right up to the end after the Cubs led 33-22 at halftime. The Jaguars shot an ice-cold 18 percent on field goals in the first half (6-of-32).
At Prinsburg, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team lost 74-53 to Central Minnesota Christian. The Bluejays led 38-22 at halftime. The Jaguars (4-4) host Holdingford (5-2) this Friday night.
Area girls' basketball scores on December 17:
Mayer Lutheran 86, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 26
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 49, Eden Valley-Watkins 35 (a Monday night score from the EV-W tournament)
Upsala 76, Ogilvie 58
Brandon-Evansville 45, Battle Lake 40
Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 67, Nevis 36
Sleepy Eye 54, Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart 31
Rocori 56, Eden Valley-Watkins 41
Hancock 57, St. Cloud Cathedral 48
Minnewaska Area 57, Paynesville Area 17
New London-Spicer 73, Watertown-Mayer 62
Holdingford 66, Pierz 17
West Central Area 64, Melrose Area 54
Kimball Area 63, Mora 39
Underwood 75, Parkers Prairie 40
Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 74, Rothsay 69
Foley 82, Osakis 51
Swanville 66, Browerville 34
Braham 64, Moose Lake-Willow River 28
Dawson-Boyd 65, Benson 54
Lakeview 52, Montevideo 47
Legacy Christian 60, Maple Lake 42
Royalton 67, Pine River-Backus 39
High school band and choir Christmas concert is tonight (VIDEOS*)
Music students in grades 6-12 will hold their band and choir Christmas concert tonight (Monday) at 7 p.m. at Olson Auditorium. The middle school and senior high choir will perform first. The band concert is set to begin at about 7:45 p.m. starting with the 6th grade band. I am grateful and extremely appreciative that nothing gets in the way at B-B-E of our band or choir concerts! This is not the case at other schools, which is sad and pathetic. No athletic activities are scheduled for tonight - which is how it should be on music concert night!!!
You are welcome to tune in via the video player posted below. It should be "live" by 6:45 p.m. or about then.
LIVE video courtesy of B-B-E Broadcasting:
Further coverage to follow later tonight and also in the December 19 and 26 issues of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper. We'll see what I come up with this week! As of now, we are set to publish a 16-page issue!
Here's a very, very rough video featuring the final song performed tonight...
I shot the video on my big Nikon camera, which was very difficult to hold steady. I have a mountain of content from tonight to go through and prepare for publishing this week and next week. The concert was outstanding! Our high school musicians and their teachers have much to be proud of!
Winter sports shows get underway, and weekend updates (VIDEOS)
I didn't get around to a second podcast recording on Friday night after the evening of college and high school sports had concluded. I'm re-posting the first winter sports show, which I recorded late Thursday night. Topics in that first winter sports show included comments on the girls' basketball game against K-M-S plus other notes on winter sports teams, including props given to boys' basketball head coach Austin Rambow.
Here's winter sports podcast No. 1 of the 2024-2025 season:
On Saturday, the 7th/8th grade girls' basketball teams hosted the Central Minnesota Conference tournament. At the high school, the Class of 2029 8th graders played their tournament, and the Class of 2030 7th graders hosted at the elementary. Updates from that to follow.
Here's video from the 4th quarter at Ridgewater College on Friday night:
More to come.
Here's a business announcement...Bonanza Valley State Bank has their Christmas/Holiday open house for their customers on Friday this week! Click here to read all about it at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper: https://shorturl.at/mg7OJ.
B-B-E's grades 6-12 Christmas band and choir concert is at 7 p.m. on Monday night at Olson Auditorium. I'll post the live player in a new blog post.
Girls' hoops overwhelms Irish, Huskers fall to Royals (VIDEOS, UPDATES*)
Between games on Saturday in Belgrade, I added some updates to this blog post...at the bottom of the post, you can watch the college women's basketball game on Saturday in Worthington at a live YouTube player...
In their second Central Minnesota Conference game of the week, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team improved to above .500 with a dominating 63-23 win against visiting Maple Lake tonight. The halftime score was 36-11. They are now 4-3 overall heading into a non-conference road game next Tuesday in Prinsburg.
Freshman guard Macey Roering's career-high 26 points led the team, and the Jaguars shot 35 percent from the floor and 3-of-14 on the arc. At the charity stripe, the Jaguars made 14 of 18 free throw attempts.
Maple Lake falls to 1-5 overall and 0-2 in the CMC.
Here's a video from the second half in last night's K-M-S game:
I've got wrestling updates to post here from the Paynesville trianglar. Our wrestlers travel to West Central Area high school for a big dual meet tournament on Saturday.
Here's a video from Thursday night featuring the B-B-E Pep Band playing the National Anthem, which was followed by the starter introductions and tip-off:
In a big game between Royalton and three-time defending Central Minnesota Conference champion Holdingford, the Huskers and Royals played in a back-and-forth game at Holdingford. The Huskers held a double-digit lead only to see the Royals storm back and win convincingly by a 54-41 score. The Huskers are now 1-1 in the CMC and 4-2 overall. Before tonight, their last loss in the CMC was on January 18, 2022 in Paynesville by a 63-41 score. In that 2021-22 season, the Huskers ended up earning a CMC co-championship with Kimball Area at 11-3 each in the league.
In wrestling news...
At Paynesville to start the Central Minnesota Conference schedule tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team lost to the host Bulldogs 52-15. I believe it's the first time in at least 10 seasons that our Jaguars have lost in a dual meet to the Bulldogs. In the other dual, the Jaguars blasted Kimball Area 57-18. Paynesville Area won 65-8 in their dual with the Cubs.
Against the Cubs, the Jaguars won the last three weights by forfeit (189, 215 and 285). Kimball Area also had open weights at 139 and 145.
Central MN Conference girls' basketball scores on December 13:
Kimball Area 55, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 47
Royalton 54, Holdingford 41
Area girls' basketball scores on December 13:
New London-Spicer 93, Rockford 37
Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 59, Ashby 43
Osakis 64, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 37
Verndale 54, Sebeka 14
Hancock 77, Battle Lake 39
BOLD 67, Montevideo 54
Crosby-Ironton 73, Braham 40
Sauk Centre 58, Minnewaska Area 48
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 84, Ortonville 15
Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 58, Parkers Prairie 54
Swanville 70, Melrose Area 58
Area boys' basketball scores on December 13:
Renville County West 65, Maple Lake 46
Belle Plaine 78, Eden Valley-Watkins 50
Minnewaska Area 91, Menagha 41
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 85, Alden-Conger/Glenville-Emmons 53
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 39, Litchfield 37
Benson 72, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 35
Rothsay 57, Battle Lake 37
Rockford 73, New London-Spicer 56
West Central Area 80, Brandon-Evansville 55
Upsala 75, Browerville 64
In college athletics...
I actually stepped away from high school sports tonight and made a trip south to Ridgewater College, where my daughters and I and a couple extra 5th grade girls' basketball players watched Class of 2023 graduate Tiyana Schwinghammer and Class of 2024 graduate Grace Jackson in action. There are few things on earth that will fully pull me away from high school sports coverage, but college sports can do just that. On paper, the game had the makings of a total and complete mismatch: the Ridgewater Warriors were 0-8 coming into the night, while the Northland Technical and Community College Pioneers were 7-4 overall and ranked No. 2 in the latest NJCAA Division III national polls. That's not how the game played out, however, and Ridgewater played a terrific game in spite of having only 6 players compared to Northland's 12 players.
Final score: Northland 72, Ridgewater 51. Schwinghammer scored a career-high 28 points to go with 7 assists and 6 rebounds. It was a special sight to witness! Grace Jackson played 37 out of 40 total minutes and scored 5 points with 5 assists and 1 steal.
On Saturday, the junior high girls' basketball teams host the Central Minnesota Conference tournament. The 8th grade Jaguars take a 9-2 record into the tournament to conclude their season. Also on Saturday, as mentioned before, the wrestlers travel to Barrett for the Grant County Duals. The B-B-E/Paynesville Pirouettes dance team travels to Albany for their second competition of the season.
This is great! You can watch Tiyana Schwinghammer's game in Worthington on Saturday at this web player:
Tip-off at Worthington is at 1 p.m. on Saturday. This game features the No. 2 and No. 4-ranked teams in NJCAA Division III: the Northland Pioneers (#2) and the MN West Worthington Bluejays (#4). The Bluejays are the defending Region 13B champions and also NJCAA Division III national champions. Update: Schwinghammer's Pioneers improved to 9-4 overall with their 6th straight win as they defeated the Bluejays 60-45.
Jaguars fight to the end, but a win streak ends, and a Winter Sports Show! (VIDEOS)
A lengthy winning streak came to an end tonight for the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team against the defending Camden North Conference champions that has 6 seniors on its roster.
Facing neighboring rival Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg, the Jaguars suffered a nearly six-minute-long scoring drought in the latter half of the first 18-minute period. After clawing back from trailing 13-7 to tie it at 17-17, the Jaguars went from the 8:00 mark to the 2:18 mark in the first half without scoring. During that time, the Fighting Saints scored 15 unanswered points, and they led 37-25 at halftime.
Final score: K-M-S 70, B-B-E 62. Game notes to follow on this blog post, and later tonight, I will be adding my first winter sports show recording of the 2024-2025 sports season. Stay tuned!
Here's a video featuring the final seconds of the first half:
As you can see in that video, the Fighting Saints came within a fraction of a second of taking a 40-25 lead into the halftime break. Sophomore guard Leah Wagner pulled off an incredible shot with Bree Thieschafer guarding her, but she released the ball just barely after the buzzer sounded.
In the second half, the Jaguars trailed by double digits for over 10 minutes on all but one possession. About 3 minutes into the second half, Macey Roering's three-pointer cut it to a 39-30 deficit. K-M-S had 13-point leads on at least three possessions and led 55-42 with about 8 minutes left in the game. Bree Thieschafer hit an 8-footer with 6:25 left that made it 55-48. Later, with 4:50 to go, Thieschafer's coast-to-coast drive and layup made it 59-54. Unfortunately, a five-point spread as close as the Jaguars could get in the game's final 5 minutes.
A few numbers from tonight...
The Jaguars shot just 30 percent from the floor. A glaring item in the scorebox was an 0-for-6 mark from beyond the arc in the first half. Kacey Fischer led the Jaguars with a double double of 16 points and 11 rebounds. K-M-S was led by junior guard Acelynn Hacker's 23 points, which included three three-point shots.
Next: the Jaguars (3-3) have no time to regroup, as they are set for a second home game in two nights with Maple Lake coming to town tomorrow night for a Central Minnesota Conference game.
Just released from my winter recording studio! Here's my first winter sports show recording of this 2024-2025 season...this one lasts almost 17 minutes...
For this winter sports season's podcast recordings, I've settled on a catchy tune that is also a popular song as of late...called "Stargazing" by Myles Smith. If you look closely during the video recording, you can see that it was a little cold in my recording studio (our Suburban). I did the whole thing from the top of my head without looking at my notes, so it got a little rough at times. I hope to get in a rhythm of recording at least one of these shows each week this winter.
The Fighting Saints (6-0) defeated the Jaguars for the first time in 12 seasons. On February 12, 2013, the Fighting Saints won at Kerkhoven 47-38 against our Jaguars. B-B-E has won every meeting since then until tonight, including a handful of playoff games in Section 5A. In that 2012-13 season, K-M-S finished 15-8 and took second place in the Camden North Conference before losing their their playoff opener to CMC-Prinsburg. That was Coach Kristina Anderson's first year as head coach at B-B-E, and it was also the last time the Jaguars failed to advance past the sub-section quarterfinals. The final record was 8-19 that year.
I looked back at the full records for the past 10 years or so, and K-M-S saw their girls' basketball season end at the hands of our Jaguars four straight seasons between 2016 and 2019.
Other noteworthy items: K-M-S entered tonight's game 5-0 overall, and that was their first 5-0 start to a season since 2018-2019. That season was also K-M-S's first year under current head coach Justin Johnson. Their final record was 13-14 overall. B-B-E traveled to K-M-S in the second-to-last regular season game and beat the Fighting Saints 65-27. In the Sub-Section 5A-South semifinals 13 days later, the Fighting Saints gave a tremendous performance in a 48-37 loss to our Jaguars at Little Falls high school. The Jaguars finished second in Section 5A that season. One of B-B-E's seniors that year was Cassandra Tensen, who is currently a K-M-S varsity assistant coach and a staff member at K-M-S high school.
Before I get back to other reporting plus the area scoreboard, I want to post a shout out to Kensington Insurance and their staff as they are set to host Christmas/Holiday Open House events next Wednesday, December 18 at their new locations in Belgrade and Willmar. Here's what's posted on the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website community calendar:
Nancy Mathiason and her friendly, helpful staff at Kensington Insurance invite all their fine customers to their upcoming Holiday Open House on Wednesday, December 18 in Belgrade and Willmar. Kensington Insurance will host these events at their two new locations: in Belgrade from 10 a.m. to noon at 312 Washburn Avenue plus in Willmar from 2 to 4 p.m. at 2211 1st Street, Suite 130. Refreshments will be served at both locations.
Kensington Insurance is one example of many local businesses who provide tremendous advertising support to the newspaper 12 months out of the year. Without that support, you would not be reading this Jaguars Sports blog coverage or anything of any coverage of any event in the Bonanza Valley Voice...the newspaper would fold like a bad hand of cards without that type of loyal support.
I also want to give a shout out to Kensington Bank, as they will host Holiday Open House celebrations tomorrow (Friday); this takes place at the Elrosa location from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and at their Belgrade location from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Also! Next Friday, December 20, the Bonanza Valley State Bank hosts their Christmas open house at their bank lobby in Brooten from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The full Bonanza Valley area community calendar can be found online at the Bonanza Valley Voice website by clicking on this link: https://shorturl.at/NoHkh. Some upcoming events are always posted on page 2 of every newspaper issue.
Tonight, I will finally settle on a theme song for my winter sports podcasts. Unlike the past two winters, I can't find a song that just stands out and hits right. A Zach Bryan/Kasey Musgraves song is the lead candidate. Stay tuned!
Earlier tonight at Paynesville, the B-B-E Jaguars 8th grade girls' basketball team defeated Paynesville Area 28-25 to finish their regular season with a 9-2 record. They host the Central Minnesota Conference tournament this Saturday, December 14 with 7 teams coming to town.
Speaking of Paynesville...their girls' basketball team traveled to neighboring Eden Valley-Watkins tonight for a Central Minnesota Conference game. The Bulldogs, who were 0-5 coming into tonight, defeated the Eagles 57-42.
Area girls' basketball scores on December 12:
Brandon-Evansville 73, Browerville 46
Glencoe-Silver Lake 70, Dassel-Cokato 68
Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 82, Laporte 25
Upsala 58, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 31
Moose Lake-Willow River 55, Barnum 22
Osakis 72, Swanville 43
Willmar 59, St. Cloud Area 18
MACCRAY 54, Lac qui Parle Valle 29
Pine River-Backus 64, Nevis 46
BOLD 75, Minneota 52
Central MN Christian 87, Dawson-Boyd 27
Benson 74, St. John's Prep 49
Area boys' basketball scores on December 12:
Montevideo 75, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 62
Lester Prairie 71, Eden Valley-Watkins 42
Central MN Christian 72, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 47
St. Cloud Cathedral 68, Royalton 46
Melrose Area 55, West Central Area 39
Holdingford 69, Pierz 51
Sauk Centre 75, BOLD 38
Redwood Valley 87, New London-Spicer 43
Brandon-Evansville 57, Parkers Prairie 53
Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 60, Hancock 38
Minnewaska Area 67, Barnesville 62
The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team hosts Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg in a non-conference border battle tonight. The game will be aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood, and they stream online: https://www.kmgk1071.com. It is also PEP BAND night!
Game updates to follow... At halftime, the Fighting Saints are ahead 37 to 25. The game was tied 17-17 with 8 minutes to go.
**With 3:07 to go in the game, the Fighting Saints are ahead 63 to 54. The Jaguars had whittled a 13-point deficit down to 5 points.
Updates coming here late Wednesday night with the area scoreboard***
Better overall field goal shooting helped the Benson Braves overcome the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team in an early-season meeting of Sub-Section 6A-South rivals. The Jaguars built a 37-31 halftime lead, but they could not hold onto one-possession leads in the final stretch of regulation play. The whole show "went south" in overtime, with the Braves outscoring the hosts 14-6 to claim the big win. Final: Benson 73, B-B-E 65 in OT.
From the field, the Braves (2-1 overall) shot 43 percent compared to 33 percent by the Jaguars. At the free throw line, the Braves were 7-of-12 compared to the Jaguars getting just 3 charity shots and making one. Junior guard Taylor Pieper led the Jaguars with a season-high 23 points.
Next for the boys' basketball team: the Jaguars (0-4) host Kimball Area next Tuesday, December 17 for the Central Minnesota Conference opener.
Switching over to the girls' basketball team...
In another home game tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team prevailed 62-52 in their CMC opener against Kimball Area. They led 28-20 at halftime and expanded the lead in the second half to as much as 62-43 in the final 4 minutes. The Cubs (3-3, 0-1) drained back-to-back three-pointers down the stretch, but the Jaguars held them at bay in the last 2 minutes of the game.
Here's a video featuring the playing of the National Anthem, the starter introductions, tip-off and opening minutes of the game:
The Jaguars had terrific balance with five players in double figures who all scored between 10 and 15 points. B-B-E scoring: Kacey Fischer 15, Macey Roering 14, Adley Hagen 11, Bree Thieschafer 11, Teagan Dingman 10. Next: the girls' basketball team (3-2, 1-0) hosts Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg (5-0) in a non-conference border battle this Thursday night.
Here's a video from the second half of the Kimball win:
Central MN Conference girls' basketball scores on December 10: These are the CMC openers...
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 46, Maple Lake 45 (A-C-GC won last night 50-40 against Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted)
Royalton 58, Eden Valley-Watkins 33
Holdingford 61, Paynesville Area 44
Area girls' basketball scores on December 10:
Parkers Prairie 50, Battle Lake 34
New London-Spicer 54, Minnewaska Area 47
Sauk Centre 57, West Central Area 39
Little Falls 60, Albany 47
Braham 72, Hinckley-Finlayson 11
Ogilvie 79, East Central 48
Milaca 78, Pierz 53
Melrose Area 46, Benson 37
Montevideo 49, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 27
Brainerd 57, Willmar 55
Hancock 70, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 55
Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 74, Brandon-Evansville 46
MACCRAY 72, Ortonville 20
Yellow Medicine East 63, Renville County West 56
Lac qui Parle Valley 54, Dawson-Boyd 44
Minneota 50, Lakeview 44
Upsala 65, Verndale 28
Pine River-Backus 70, Sebeka 63
Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 70, Mahnomen/Waubun 52
Area boys' basketball scores on December 10:
Paynesville Area 54, Litchfield 53
Montevideo 96, Canby 36
Heritage Christian 44, Melrose Area 35
Minnewaska Area 67, New London-Spicer 60
Albany 88, Becker 48
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 68, Eden Valley-Watkins 45
Brandon-Evansville 71, Hancock 35
Battle Lake 74, Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 36
Kimball Area 78, Dassel-Cokato 69
Henning 84, Menahga 42
Renville County West 55, Lakeview 52
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 80, Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart 45
Dance team success, and Tuesday preparations! (VIDEOS)
Well, I'll be spending half the night tonight preparing for tomorrow. Since I know I don't have a long trip to away sporting events for the next couple of days, I can safely burn some midnight oil! This is required now to get through the week.
First, I am finally caught up with uploading video from the past weekend. It was a busy and successful weekend that we can be proud of. A post-dance competition interview with Pirouettes assistant coach Morgan Schwinghammer is posted below here. The B-B-E/Paynesville dance team is preparing this week for the Albany Invitational, which is on Saturday, December 14.
Here's Coach Schwinghammer talking about her JV kick squad's success:
I have greatly enjoyed being able to take in the season opener for the dance team for the past three seasons. It is an honor and a privilege! I switch gears over to basketball tomorrow with two home events: the girls host Kimball Area for the conference opener, and the boys host Benson.
Let's get into the Christmas spirit with this video!
The youth of Trinity/West Lake Johanna Lutheran churches performed Christmas carols during a live Christmas Nativity scene as part of the family-friendly Brooten Santa Day activities on Saturday. The caroling took place at the Trinity Lutheran parking lot.
UPDATE on Tuesday...radio coverage: Smooth Magic 107 FM will be covering the boys' basketball game in Brooten. Brady will also cover Thursday's girls' basketball game in Belgrade against Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg. **And the girls game is being carried by 106.5 FM the Train of Norway Lake-Sunburg.
Halftime: in Brooten, the boys have a 37 to 31 lead over Benson. Also, the girls are ahead of Kimball 28-20.
Back in catching-up mode, website updates and Santa Day!
The Brooten community hosted a marvelous Santa Day on Saturday this weekend. Before I get to that...
Click your attention over to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website to watch a short video from the Norway Lake Lutheran Historical Association's Advent worship service held one week ago at the old log church in Arctander Township: https://shorturl.at/GYMBA. Other updates have been posted in the last couple of days to the newspaper website, and I still have to get updates to the community calendar. Also! You can visit the newspaper's website and watch the video of the Santa Day lighted Christmas parade held last night in downtown Brooten.
Almost two weeks ago, the B-B-E high school's Boxscore Sports podcasters interviewed head coach Austin Rambow. I thought it was an outstanding interview, and I really enjoyed hearing Coach Rambow's comments on being a three-sport athlete.
Here's that Boxscore Sports podcast:
Coming up: the boys' basketball team has a huge, huge Sub-Section 6A-South contest on Tuesday night with Benson coming to town.
I have a lot of catching up to do. It will take 2 hours of my night! I'll start with high school sports before shifting to college sports.
Today, at Brandon-Evansville high school in Brandon, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team broke a two-game skid with a 59-50 win over the host Chargers. The Jaguars racked up a 35-21 halftime lead while their defense limited the Chargers to 20 percent field goal shooting before halftime. Overall, the Jaguars shot a cold 31 percent on field goals and were 12-of-21 at the line. Bree Thieschafer led the team with 14 points, and Adley Hagen had 11 points as the other Jaguar in double figures.
Also in Brandon and after that girls game, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team suffered a 68-51 loss to the host Chargers after trailing 35-25 at halftime. The Jaguars were led by a double-double by Luke Illies (14 points and 11 rebounds)...Josh Walstrom had 13 points, and Taylor Pieper scored 10 points. As a team, the Jaguars shot at a 35 percent clip from the floor and went 6-of-12 at the free throw line. They drained 7 of 23 three-point attempts, including two each by Pieper, Walstrom and Austin Berge. The Chargers were led by Michah Fuller's 22 points.
Next Tuesday: the girls' basketball team hosts Kimball Area for their Central MN Conference opener, and the boys' basketball team hosts Benson.
Here's a video going back a week to the season opener for our boys' basketball team:
The video was recorded in the first half while the game was a one-possession contest (B-B-E trailing 29-26)...but the game got away from the Jaguars after this juncture.
Meanwhile...heartbreak in St. Cloud...
For the second time in the last 3 years, the St. Cloud State University women's volleyball team saw their season end in the NCAA National Tournament in a five-set loss in the Central Region Championship (the Sweet 16 round). This year, the loss in game five was by a 15-9 score to No. 6-ranked Central Oklahoma. Back in 2022, the Huskies lost 3-2 with a 15-13 game five loss to No. 3-ranked Concordia-St. Paul after holding an 11-7 lead in that final set. The SCSU Huskies finish this season 29-3 overall and just short of the Elite 8. B-B-E's Emily Kern is a junior on SCSU's team and had 5 digs while playing in all five sets.
Pirouettes terrific at Minnewaska, bring back hardware (VIDEO added*)
It was an exciting awards ceremony tonight at Minnewaska Area, as the B-B-E/Paynesville Pirouettes dance team hauled in a second-place trophy in the JV Kick division. In first place was Montevideo, while the Pirouettes defeated four other teams: Sauk Centre, Minnewaska Area, Foley and Alexandria.
**Here's an exciting video clip from Minnewaska tonight:
Before dropping back into high school sports coverage, I have some college sports news to post. Exciting! The SCSU Huskies volleyball team is heading to the NCAA Sweet 16! The Huskies defeated Concordia-St. Paul tonight by a 3-1 score in the NCAA D-II Round of 32 at Halenbeck Hall. B-B-E Class of 2022 graduate Emily Kern is a junior defensive specialist on the team. They compete in the NCAA Central Region championship tomorrow at Halenbeck Hall.
Game scores for SCSU were 23-25, 25-15, 25-16, 25-20. The Huskies are 29-2 overall.
*Saturday update: the girls basketball team defeated Brandon-Evansville 59-50 today to even their record at 2-2 overall. A new blog post will be added much later tonight. This has been an extremely busy day with Brooten Santa Day - which was wildly successful!!!
Jaguars falter in rough second half vs. Lakers (VIDEO)
It was a noteworthy difference in the scorebox: 11-for-34 compared to 18-for-48. These are the statistics for tonight's game from inside the arc. From a percentage perspective, it was about identical, but the Lakers got off 14 more two-point field goals overall tonight. After the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team built a 25-17 lead with 3:51 to go, the Lakers stormed back to close the gap to 30-29 at the break.
Coming out of the locker room, the Lakers played lights-out defense in the early portion of the second half while going on a 7-0 run. The struggles continued from there for the Jaguars, while Minnewaska Area blew the game open with a 15-0 run between 13 minutes and around 9:30 to go.
Final score: Minnewaska Area 64, B-B-E 47. The Lakers are 2-0 after suffering through a difficult 2-25 season last year. The Jaguars fall to 0-2.
Next: the boys' basketball team travels to Brandon-Evansville high school this Saturday, December 7 (in Brandon) for a key sub-section battle with the Chargers. Tip-off for the varsity boys game will be at about 5 p.m. Earlier that afternoon, our girls' basketball team faces the Chargers in a non-conference game. B-E's boys' basketball team will be looking for revenge after getting knocked out of the playoffs last March by our Jaguars. Tonight at Upsala in a non-conference game, the Chargers won their season opener 61-56. According to an Echo Press season preview article, B-E has conference and section aspirations in mind with 8 seniors and 7 juniors on a deep roster. The Chargers have one of the best players in the Little Eight Conference and Section 6A in senior Micah Fuller, who was last year's Little Eight MVP. As a junior, Fuller averaged 22.4 points per game with 7.1 rebounds per game, 1.9 assists per game and 1.7 steals per game. He had a hot shooting hand all year long and finished with 52 percent field goal shooting (36% on the arc) and 75 percent free throw shooting.
Back to tonight's game...
From beyond the arc tonight, Minnewaska shot 8-for-22, and the Jaguars shot 6-for-21. Josh Walstrom with 14 points and Taylor Pieper with 13 points were the lone Jaguars in double figures. Against intense defense, Luke Illies scored 9 points while snaring 12 rebounds. B-B-E's 30-29 lead in the first half was made in large part on 5-of-10 three-point shooting. The tables turned, however, as the Jaguars made just 1 of 11 shots on the arc after halftime while they were outscored 35-17.
Here's a video from the first half with just over 7 minutes to go tonight:
In the start of that video, the Jaguars hold a 20-17 lead.
The Lakers were led tonight by Marc Gruber, who scored 20 points. In Minnewaska's season opener on Tuesday at Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg, Gruber led the Lakers with 21 points in a 76-56 win. Marc is the son of Brian Gruber, who was a 1986 graduate of Belgrade-Elrosa high school.
Let's step away for a moment from high school sports...
I'll be getting to game video shortly. I'm currently watching live stats for the St. Cloud State University volleyball team, who is hosting the NCAA National tournament opener. They split the first two sets but won game three 25-17. The Huskies (27-2) are the top seed in their region, and they are facing No. 8-seeded Ouachita Baptist of Arkansas, who won game two in extra points 28-26. Emily Kern, a 2022 B-B-E graduate, is a junior defensive specialist for the Huskies, who are ranked No. 2 in the nation! Crazy!
You can watch Emily's team by clicking here: https://nsicnetwork.com/scsuhuskies. At 10 p.m. tonight, game four was at the mid-way point with the Huskies ahead 11-7. Later in the fourth set, the Tigers closed it to a 16-13 SCSU lead. From there, it was all Huskies in a big, BIG way as SCSU ran away with the fourth set with a 9-0 run. Final score: SCSU 25, Ouachita Baptist 13. The SCSU Huskies volleyball team is heading to the NCAA Round of 32! They are 28-2 overall and have won a whopping 24 straight matches!
Fun fact: this was SCSU's first home NCAA National Tournament match in school history. Another fact that caught my ears: if SCSU's opponent drove to Minnesota, the drive would have lasted over 14 hours. I'm guessing they're on the far southern end of the NCAA D-II's Central Region? This was OBU's first-ever appearance in the NCAA National Tournament.
Next for SCSU: the Huskies face NSIC arch-rival Concordia-St. Paul (the region's No. 4 seed) at 7 p.m. back at Halenbeck Hall in St. Cloud tomorrow night, December 6. At stake is a berth in the NCAA Sweet 16!
Friday update...
Today, the funeral for Keith Presler was held at Big Grove Lutheran. I don't know if I'll have time to post any video before making a trip to both basketball and dance team action tonight. The B-B-E/Paynesville Pirouttes dance team travels to the Minnewaska Invitational tonight for their season opener! Their dance team season preview was published in this week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper. The invitational begins at 6 p.m. following the singing of the National Anthem at 5:55 p.m. The Pirouettes varsity jazz squad should perform at about 7:05 p.m.** Spread the word!
Area boys' basketball scores on December 5:
Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop 67, MACCRAY 59
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 90, Litchfield 36
Pierz 85, Swanville 68
Wabasso 81, Hancock 68
Brandon-Evansville 61, Upsala 56
Underwood 69, Rothsay 63
Montevideo 107, Lac qui Parle Valley 70 (a whopping 177 points scored in a crazy border battle at Montevideo)
Melrose Area 62, Foley 38
Osakis 79, Paynesville Area 50
Renville County West 72, Benson 69 (a tough loss for the Braves on their home floor after they led 45-37 at halftime)
Central MN Christian 81, BOLD 50
Breckenridge 55, Battle Lake 50
Henning 61, Bertha-Hewitt 29
Staples-Motley 66, West Central Area 60 (this is WCA's first regular-season loss since they fell 54-50 to Sauk Centre in Barrett on January 19 of last season, ending a 13-game regular season win streak; in the postseason last year, WCA went 6-1 and took third at state; the Staples-Motley Cardinals avenged a 93-73 loss to WCA last December in a 16-13 season)
We have another border battle on deck! This time, the game is on our floor as our B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team is set to host Minnewaska Area. The game will be aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood (107.1 FM) and online at https://www.kmgk1071.com.
I just finished watching the Class of 2029 girls' basketball 8th graders defeat Benson 35-16 to improve to 7-1 for their junior high season. Congratulations! My time to do scouting and other blogging has been severely limited. More to come later tonight! OH, AND there's Pep Band!!!! This is going to be a very good night!
Halftime: BBE 30, Minnewaska 29. The Lakers made a three-pointer at the buzzer to make it a one-point game.
Second-half update: with under 10 minutes to go in the game, the Lakers have built a 49 to 33 lead.
Another game with ice-cold shooting spelled trouble for the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team in their third straight non-conference border battle to open the new season. The Lakers built a commanding 41-21 lead tonight at halftime on their way to a 59-40 win.
Next: the Jaguars (1-2) look to get back to .500 when they travel to Brandon-Evansville high school this Saturday for afternoon sub-section action against the Chargers. The varsity tip-off in Brandon is set for about 3:15 p.m. This is a girls/boys doubleheader with the boys' basketball game set for about 5 p.m.
Also on Thursday this week, the boys' basketball team will host Minnewaska Area.
Area girls' basketball scores on December 3:
Royalton 59, St. Cloud Cathedral 46
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 56, Paynesville Area 41
New London-Spicer 65, Holdingford 30
East Central 55, Hinckley-Finlayson 48
Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 86, Clearbook-Gonvick 38
Sauk Centre 73, Benson 34
BOLD 80, Melrose Area 54
Braham 73, Mille Lacs 20
Ogilvie 59, Pine City 39
Dassel-Cokato 59, Maple Lake 36
Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 56, Rothsay 53
Little Falls 40, Upsala 36
