Two big varsity wins! (VIDEO)

This was a highly successful night!

First, at Benson in a key Section 5A dual, the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team had numerous stellar performances up and down the lineup while defeating the Braves 40-36. The win was clinched when Hunter Laage pinned Taylor Ellingson with a time of 2:46. That pin put the Jaguars ahead 40-30 going into heavyweight. Next: the wrestling team travels to Minnewaska Area this Friday night for an invitational that starts at 4 p.m.

In a home Central Minnesota Conference game tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team defeated Paynesville Area 73-56. They led 38-29 at halftime and finished with a 39 percent field goal shooting mark. Adley Hagen led the Jaguars with 22 points, while Kacey Fischer finished with a tremendous double-double of 15 points and 19 rebounds. Next: the girls' basketball team travels to Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City (2-5, 1-3) this Friday night to resume CMC action. In the CMC, they hold a 4-1 record to sit in second place. They are 8-5 overall and now winners of four straight.

Here's action from the opening minutes of the first half tonight in Belgrade:


How the border battle played out...
The Bulldogs fought hard throughout the entire first half and held early leads of 5-2, 9-7 and 12-10. Two free throws by Hagen with 12:55 left tied the game at 12-12. Kylie Pauls, one of Paynesville's five talented seniors, tied the game at 15-15 with 11:10 left on a three-pointer. The Jaguars began to take charge across the next 2 minutes of play as they exploded with a 7-0 run in a span of under 40 seconds. Bree Thieschafer's three-pointer with 9:12 left gave the Jaguars a 23-15 lead.

After the Bulldogs narrowed the gap to 28-24, Kacey Fischer drained two free throws plus a cleanup shot for a 33-24 advantage. Tiffany Dingmann's corner three-pointer with 2 minutes to go pushed the lead to 35-26. A late three-pointer by Grace Roberg cut B-B-E's lead to 38-29 right before halftime.

Thieschafer canned another three-pointer early in the second half that gave the Jaguars a 41-31 lead with 15:25 to go. Two Kacey Fischer free throws and her shot in the paint were followed by a shot from Hagen to cap off a 9-0 scoring run. Paynesville senior Rayna Spanier's three-pointer made it 47-34, but the Jaguars went on a scoring rampage across the next 6-plus minutes. A three-pointer on the left wing by Teagan Dingmann with 7:40 left gave the Jaguars a commanding 62-37 lead as the game was put out of reach for the visitors.

For the first conference meeting of B-B-E and Paynesville, the Jaguars earned a three-game sweep tonight. The C-squad Jaguars (Class of 2029 eighth graders) defeated the Bulldogs 25-20, and the JV Jaguars won 47-33.

Paynesville Area (1-10 overall) hosts Royalton this week Thursday. It will be interesting to see how that shakes out in spite of the wide differences in each team's record. The Royals were 8-0 overall and 3-0 in the CMC coming into tonight's home game with A-C-GC.

Central MN Conference girls' basketball scores on January 7:
Holdingford 58, Maple Lake 32
Royalton 61, A-C-GC 34
Kimball Area 52, Eden Valley-Watkins 37

More to come...but likely not until the morning. I have a newspaper to get ready for the printing press!

Area girls' basketball scores on January 7:
Underwood 51, Brandon-Evansville 37
Braham 80, Pine City 44
Bertha-Hewitt 62, Swanville 57
Sauk Centre 65, BOLD 47
Montevideo 60, Melrose Area 36
Minnewaska Area 86, Benson 28
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 59, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 47