Step I: Girls' basketball Jaguars overwhelm Raiders (VIDEO)

Displaying a surprising level of athleticism for a 7th-seeded team, the Mille Lacs Raiders hit some outside shots for a competitive first half. The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team responded by running the floor and building a 38-23 halftime lead. Stifling second-half defense by the Jaguars propelled them to a 68-39 playoff-opening win.

Mille Lacs, who competes in the Great River Conference, finished 7-20 overall.

Here's a video recorded in the first half tonight:


Next: the Jaguars (19-8) travel to Foley high school on Saturday, February 28 for the Sub-Section 6A-East semifinals. Tip-off at Foley is at about 1:45 p.m. B-B-E's opponent will be No. 3-seeded Swanville. I'm currently combing my newspapers to find Swanville statistics from their recent games.

In their playoff opener tonight, Swanville (15-11) defeated visiting East Central 68-53. The Bulldogs won the Prairie Conference title with a 9-1 record. Back on February 17, Swanville defeated Mille Lacs 62-28. Across most of January and into early February, Swanville had an 11-game winning streak going. That was upended by Melrose, who beat Swanville 56-35 on February 9.

Swanville's leading scorer is 6'1" sophomore Addison Hudalla. Through 25 regular season games, Hudalla averaged 19.6 points per game and 15.8 rebounds per game.

TOMORROW: the B-B-E Knights of Columbus will host their first Lenten season fish fry on Friday night from 5 to 8 p.m. at the KaDe Shack in Brooten. Please come out and show your support!

In games played in Sub-Section 5A-West tonight: Sebeka upset last year's Section 5A champion, Walker-Hackensack-Akeley, with a 45-43 win over the Wolves in tonight's quarterfinal round. Sebeka has a 6-17 overall record.

Area girls' basketball playoff scores on February 26:
Braham 63, Hinckley-Finlayson 23
Upsala 65, Ogilvie 59
Bertha-Hewitt 67, Nevis 38
Pine City 60, Melrose Area 56
BOLD 74, Springfield 27
Albany 71, Milaca 42
Foley 80, Spectrum 42
Legacy Christian 75, Holdingford 64
Royalton 60, St. Cloud Cathedral 56 (the Royals are 17-10 overall; this win at Cathedral high school avenges their 78-68 loss in the season opener to St. Cloud Cathedral)
Milaca 71, Maple Lake 36
Kimball Area 84, PACT Charter 70
Sauk Centre 59, Osakis 22
West Central Area 65, Benson 27
Hancock 79, Parkers Prairie 72
Cass Lake-Bena 65, Browerville 50
Willmar 67, St. Cloud Crush 42
Pine River-Backus 79, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 40