Two conference losses (VIDEO)

This was a rough night for our basketball teams.

In a Central Minnesota Conference game on the home court, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team suffered a 74-63 loss to a hot-shooting Holdingford team as they fell into a tie for first place with Kimball Area. Cold 33 percent field goal shooting hampered the cause as the Huskers rained three-pointers on the Jaguars to earn a split in the conference series.

The Jaguars got off to a great start in the game's opening minutes with an early 10-2 lead.

Early inside baskets by Mya Worms (17:43) and then Teagan Dingmann...plus a three by Kacey Fischer got the Jaguars out to a 7-0 lead with one minute played. Another field goal by Kacey Fischer made it a 10-2 lead. Across the next 1 1/2 minutes, however, the Huskers narrowed it to a 10-8 score. They later gained the lead on a three-pointer to go ahead 17-15.

Here's the tip-off and first 2 minutes of the game:


The Huskers led 36-29 at halftime.

Senior Riley Breth was nearly unstoppable as the senior 5'11" forward poured in 27 points with 8 rebounds and 4 steals for the Huskers. Kacey Fischer also had a monster game with 26 points to lead the Jaguars. She knocked down both of her three-point attempts and made 8 of 16 two-point shots for 55 percent field goal shooting.

Holdingford clinched fourth place alone with an 8-6 record. B-B-E falls to 11-2, and this loss sets up a rare winner-take-all game in Belgrade tomorrow. The Kimball Area Cubs will provide the competition, you can bet the house that they'll come in fired up. Spread the word! Let's get a rowdy, loud hometown crowd ready to cheer on the Jaguars to a win.

Overall, B-B-E is 17-8 and has a lock on the No. 2 seed in Sub-Section 5A-East. The rankings will be finalized on Saturday. The playoffs will open at home on Thursday, February 26 at 7 p.m. in Belgrade.

In boys' basketball action...
The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team lost a tough one by a 63-61 score at Royalton tonight. The Jaguars trailed 41-32 at halftime. They are now 7-6 in the CMC and still in third place. However, they have to defeat Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City next week in order to stay in third place. The Royals are 10-14 overall and 6-6 in the CMC.

Next: the boy's basketball team hosts Benson next Monday. The Jaguars have climbed to No. 10 in the latest QRF rankings in Section 6A.

In the Central Minnesota Conference, Paynesville Area remained in first place alone after surviving a scare from sixth-place Kimball Area. The Bulldogs won tonight in Kimball 82-80.

Central MN Conference boys' basketball scores on Feb. 19:
Maple Lake 96, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 83
Paynesville Area 82, Kimball Area 80
Holdingford 65, Eden Valley-Watkins 49

Area girls' basketball scores on February 19:
Melrose Area 65, Kimball Area 61
Benson 68, Mille Lacs 47
Yellow Medicine East 68, Lac qui Parle Valley 56
Wabasso 48, Renville County West 42
Milaca 67, Albany 32
Sauk Centre 64, Royalton 59
Lester Prairie 62, Maple Lake 42
Brandon-Evansville 62, Upsala 53
Osakis 46, Swanville 42 (Swanville still wins the Prairie Conference title alone with a 9-1 record; the Silverstreaks took second at 8-2)
Braham 72, Barnum 43
Pine River-Backus 65, Cass Lake-Bena 45
Becker 58, Alexxandria 46
West Central Area 71, Hancock 64
Border West 67, Ortonville 14
Parkers Prairie 74, Henning 68

Area boys' basketball scores on February 19:
Albany 81, Pierz 71
Central-Norwood Young America 74, New London-Spicer 66
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 51, Sauk Centre 45
Melrose Area 52, Litchfield 51
Minnewaska 63, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 48
Benson 96, Browerville 61
Underwood 49, Border West 41
Montevideo 70, Dawson-Boyd 62

GAME NIGHT! Home cooking

We have home cooking tonight with the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team hosting Eden Valley-Watkins. The Jaguars are trying to avenge a loss in the conference opener in early January. At stake is a shot for third place in the Central Minnesota Conference. A loss would make a third-place finish highly unlikely.

At halftime in Paynesville, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team struggled through a ragged first half but holds a 21-14 lead at the break.

In the boys game...

The Jaguars are ahead 36-25 at halftime over Eden Valley-Watkins. *More to come in a NEW blog post.

A 3-0 night! YES! (VIDEO)

I just love success by our student athletes in Jaguar Country!

Tonight in a home triangular to start the Central Minnesota Conference schedule, the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team put a nine-day layoff to rest by soundly defeating Kimball Area 48-27. Later the No. 5-ranked Jaguars defeated Paynesville Area, although I don't have the final score of that dual. This evens their record at 2-2 overall.

For the second time this season, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team put to bed a 10-day layoff from action. Their last game was back on December 9 in Holdingford. Tonight at Litchfield, the Jaguars shook off the rust in the opening minutes and outscored the Dragons 19-9 over the final 10 minutes of the first half. The game had an exciting start when Tiyana Schwinghammer drilled a three-pointer with just 20 seconds gone on B-B-E's first offensive set.

With 4:39 left, Bree Thieschafer's three-pointer broke an 18-18 tie. The Dragons (2-3) were held scoreless in the final five minutes. Halftime: B-B-E 28, Litchfield 18.

The Jaguars took charge right out of the locker room with buckets from Abby Berge and Tiyana Schwinghammer in the first 70 seconds for a 32-18 lead. A three-pointer by Harley Roering with 15:25 left made it a 35-20 score. Schwinghammer's three-pointer with 7:50 remaining put the Jaguars ahead 49-35. The Dragons got no closer than 11 points the rest of the game. Final score: B-B-E 64, Litchfield 46.

As a team, the Jaguars shot a solid 40 percent from the floor and 70 percent at the free throw line. Schwinghammer led all scorers with 17 points on 44 percent shooting to go with two rebounds and three steals. Harley Roering added 16 points with a team-high five steals and four rebounds. Also in double figures was Abby Berge with 13 points, four rebounds and three steals.

**Here's the first clip from tonight at Litchfield:


Next: the No. 11-ranked Jaguars (2-1) host Upsala in a non-conference game at 5:30 p.m. this Thursday at the high school. (YES, that is correct.)

Weekend notes

The B-B-E robotics team has returned from the regional contest in Duluth. I haven't gotten a full report yet, but Coach Tom Gjerstad reported that the weekend went very well for the team, and they are proud of their efforts although they didn't make it into the finals round that took place this afternoon.

In other news, the B-B-E speech team took home another championship!! They took first place today in the medium schools division at Sauk Centre. Taking first place were: Joe Reller / Riley Schumann in Duo Interp, Courtney Brandt in Extemp. Reading and Molly Tengwall in Storytelling. Great job!!!

Here's video from after the playoff opener on Thursday night:


I'm currently at Sauk Rapids-Rice high school with the first semifinal game underway. Browerville/Eagle Valley is blowing No. 5-seedeed East Central off the floor. Late in the game it's 69-28...time to get ready for the big Central Minnesota Conference showdown with Kimball Area!!!

Girls' basketball game is on KKOK Morris

Tune in on 95.7 FM out of Morris.

At halftime: Chargers 22, Jaguars 20. BBE had a quick 8-0 lead after four minutes of play before the Chargers rallied. Further into the first half, the Jaguars were up 13-7 with 8:40 left and just like that, it was 15-13 Chargers with 5 minutes left before halftime. At halftime, B/E led 22-20.

Becca Gruber sank this shot in the lane with 9:20 left in the game to tie it at 31-31.

FINAL: Chargers 47, Jaguars 36. Brandon/Evansville improves to 10-8 overall with the win; they've won 4 of their last 5 games and hold a 5-5 mark in the Little Eight Conference.

The C-squad Jaguars won by one point, while the B-squad Jaguars lost by two points in overtime.

Sidebar...here's the standings from Saturday's elementary wrestling tournament.

1st: Willmar

2nd: NL-S

3rd: B-B-E

4th: Pierz

5th: Paynesville

6th: Benson

7th: KMS

8th: Minnewaska

Area girls' basketball scores on February 4:
Osakis 72, Upsala 62 (Silverstreaks led by as many as 16 points in the second half, and with the win they ended the 55-game winning streak in the Prairie Conference the Cardinals had going)
Hancock 56, MACCRAY 42
Foley 58, Maple Lake 48
Underwood 49, Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 11
Rockford Area 51, Watertown-Mayer 42 (Rockets have won 6 in a row, now sit at 11-10 overall)

More scenes from last night's win at Minnewaska Area...and a clip from last week

Senior Amy Bast knocks down a shot against Minnewaska with just over 12 minutes left in the game...

Brittany Winter has a nice drive to the basket and dishes off to Amy Bast on the left block with just over one minute left in the game...

The Jaguars boys' team defeat Sauk Centre on Dec. 13...

A few fun facts I learned from the Minnesota State High School League...
Did you know? In a survey of 300 high schools in Minnesota, the average GPA for student athletes was 2.84, while the average student's GPA was 2.68. The study also showed that student athletes miss an average of 7.4 days of school each year, compared to the average student missing 8.8 days a year.

Jaguars girls basketball trails 39-26 at halftime at Pierz - Final score: 74-50 loss

With 9:38 left in the first half, the Jaguars girls basketball team trailed 22-10.

The Pioneers had jumped out to a big early lead, then the Jaguars cut it to a 10-7 deficit. Pierz went on a 12-0 run to blow the game open with a 22-7 lead. Brittany Roelike helped break the Pioneers' run when she fed Erin Anderson in the paint for the Jaguars' second field goal of the game.

At the 3:00 mark in the first half, the Jaguars had kept pace with Pierz for a period of time to trail 34-23.

The Jaguars scored the first five points of the second half to cut the deficit to 39-31. The Pioneers put the throttle down, though, to go up 61-44 with six minutes remaining.

Final score: Pierz 74, B-B-E 50.

Pierz improves to 9-4 overall and 5-0 in the CMC. They lead the conference alone with an unblemished record. The Jaguars fall to 3-7 overall and 1-4 in the CMC. They are effectively knocked out of the conference race with this loss. Of course, they still have plenty of season to play for and the sub-section race could get interesting if they can heat up and get to .500 or better heading into March.

Central Minnesota Conference girls basketball results on Jan. 14:
Eden Valley-Watkins 46, Holdingford 40
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 53, Maple Lake 44
Kimball Area 53, Rockford 46 (a nice win for the Cubs, they haven't beaten the Rockets since the 1990s)

A final note, tonight's game was aired on Smooth Magic 107 of Glenwood, with outstanding coverage provided by sports broadcaster Dave McClurg. Thanks, Dave!

Central Minnesota Conference girls basketball standings on Jan. 14:
Pierz (5-0)
Kimball Area (3-2)
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted (3-2)
Rockford (3-2)
Holdingford (2-2)
Eden Valley-Watkins (2-2)
B-B-E (1-4)
Maple Lake (0-5)

Area boys basketball results on January 14:
St.Cloud Catheldral 77, Melrose Area 75
Benson 81, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 44
Albany 79, Pierz 64
Montevideo 58, BOLD 44
Breckenridge 64, West Central Area 62 OT
New London-Spicer 62, Sauk Centre 59 (what a difference a year makes for the Streeters, although it's still not enough to nip the Wildcats in a conference battle)

Area girls basketball results on January 14:
BOLD 48, Montevideo 45
Upsala 78, Browerville 57

Games involving Section 6A boys basketball teams on Jan. 14
Ulen-Hitterdal 55, Norman County East 44
Ortonville 80, Hancock 51
Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 65, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 39
Ada-Borup 75, Norman County West 44
Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton 50, Barnesville 45

Games involving Section 6A girls basketball teams on Jan. 14:
Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 46, Brandon/Evansville 39
Barnesville 42, Underwood 39
Parkers Prairie 78, Battle Lake 46

**Don't miss out on Jaguar boys basketball action on Saturday afternoon, when they host the once-beaten Brandon/Evansville Chargers (7-1) in a 2:30pm matinee. The Chargers' lone loss is to West Central Area in a 71-66 double-overtime battle on January 4. They lead the Little Eight Conference with a 4-0 record, joining Battle Lake (8-0) at the top of the standings.

The Chargers average 63.8 points per game on offense, while on defense they give up an average of 47.5 points per game.

This Jaguars sports update is brought to you by:

Jaguars girls basketball is in a dogfight at Eden Valley tonight in a Central Minnesota Conference clash, ends up losing 44-34

The Jaguars girls basketball team is trying to snap a three-game losing streak tonight, while they are on the road at Eden Valley-Watkins in a CMC game.

With five minutes left in the first half, the Jaguars are tied with the Eagles 13-13.

Halftime score at Eden Valley: Eagles 23, Jaguars 18.

For the second game in a row, the Jaguars were limited to 16 second-half points, as they ended up losing 44-34 to the Eagles tonight. They are now 1-2 in the CMC and 2-5 overall. EV-W improves to 4-8 overall and 2-1 in the CMC.

More will follow in the morning.

Central Minnesota Conference girls basketball results on January 6:
Kimball Area 49, Maple Lake 35
Rockford 54, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 50
Pierz 71, Holdingford 48

Area boys basketball results on January 6:
St.Cloud Apollo 55, Little Falls 46 (I was really hoping the Flyers would knock off the Eagles "dream team" tonight...one of Apollo's players used to be at Holdingford until he cheated the MSHSL rules and open enrolled in St.Cloud as a junior.)
Bertha-Hewitt 60, Henning 32
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 79, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 50
Montevideo 78, Benson 51
BOLD 62, Paynesville Area 40
New London-Spicer 57, Albany 51
LP-GE 83, St.Cloud Cathedral 57
Minnewaska Area 82, Yellow Medicine East 60

Area girls basketball results on January 6:
MACCRAY 57, Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart 44 (upset win for the Wolverines)
Perham 63, West Central Area 49
Parkers Prairie 85, Browerville 29
Upsala 76, Eagle Valley 40
Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 50, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 31
Osakis 59, Swanville 36

More from Tuesday night's action on the basketball courts for the Jaguars

Senior Julie Hieserich slashing to the basket against Melrose.

The Jaguars went up 18-14 with under seven minutes left in the first half against Melrose. Their lead did not last until halftime, though.

The tip off between the Jaguars and Dutchmen. Moments later the Jaguars scored on a close baseline bucket by Maggie Gruber.

From the second half of the Maple Lake game...


Click here to see a photo gallery of action from the BBE vs. Melrose girls basketball game: http://saukherald.mycapture.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=1146292&CategoryID=64636&ListSubAlbums=1

Both the girls and boys basketball teams will be in action again this week, in Central Minnesota Conference games. The girls travel to Eden Valley-Watkins on Thursday night, while the boys make the long trip to Rockford on Friday.

The Jaguars wrestling team is in action on Friday, when they host an 8-team tournament beginning at 3:30pm.

The Jaguars danceline team opens their 2011 season with the first competition of the year, at Alexandria, this Saturday at Jefferson High School. Read more on their squad further below as well as in this week's local newspapers.

This Jaguars sports update is brought to you by:

More on Tuesday night's basketball games - Jaguars girls basketball vs. Melrose Area will be aired on The Train

The border battle between the Jaguars girls basketball team and Melrose Area on Tuesday night (Jan. 4) will be aired on The Train, 106.5 FM. Pre-game coverage will begin at approximately 7:15pm. The Jaguars need to pick up a win in this game to get off to a good start on the January schedule. They have a real shot at a 15 or 16 win regular season, but it starts with a strong effort against a solid Dutchmen team tomorrow night. Melrose Area is 4-4 overall and 2-3 in the West Central North Conference.

Fun facts: up until the 2007-2008 season, the most wins in a regular season for the Jaguars girls basketball team was 16. They went 16-6 in 1994-1995 before reeling off four wins in Region 5A action and losing a 33-28 heart breaker to New London-Spicer in the region finals. (NL-S went on to finish 2nd at the two-class state tournament that year for the fourth year in a row.) The record of 16 regular season wins stood until 2007-2008, when the Jaguars went 17-9 in the regular season before going 1-1 in Sub-Section 6AA-East.

Below, another glimpse of the Jaguars girls basketball game against HL-W-W on December 17 in the Jags' home opener.

Turning to boys basketball...the Jaguars boys basketball team will host Maple Lake on Tuesday night. The Irish (6-2 overall) return three starters from last year's Sub-Section 5AA-South runner up and Central Minnesota Conference runner-up team, including 2009-2010 conference MVP Mitch Wurm.

Mitch Wurm scoring against Norwood-Young America during the season opener for the Irish on December 2. During that 70-67 win, Wurm surpassed the 1,000 point mark for his varsity career. Photo by the Maple Lake Messenger.


Wurm is a senior forward who passed the 1,000 points mark in their season opener against Norwood-Young America on December 2. He is a remarkably talented player who can take over a game. He could lead the Irish to a runner-up finish in the CMC this year, although Pierz and Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted should also be in the mix. (Yes, I call another CMC title for the Jaguars, no surprise there.)

They don't have the muscle that last year's Maple Lake team had, but they are quicker and play better on the perimeter. Through their first eight games of the season, the Irish are averaging 54.6 points per game on offense while giving up an average of 51.6 points per game on defense.

Wurm helped Maple Lake stage a stunning turnaround on the hardwood last season, as the Irish went 20-9 after going a dismal 5-22 (2-11 CMC, 8th place) in 2008-2009. The five-win season came on the heels of a sparkling 24-6 season in 2007-2008, in which the Irish made it to the Section 5AA finals and lost in a close one to Rockford 64-58.

It will be a treat for fans to watch Maple Lake and B-B-E duke it out tomorrow night. I hope the Jaguars are ready, it would be fun to watch them whip Maple Lake like they did two times last season (59-34 at Maple Lake and 63-38 at home).

The boys basketball team will next be on the radio when they travel to Osakis on Monday, January 10. Smooth Magic 107 will carry that game. (Thanks, Dave)

A final note, be sure to pick up a copy of this week's Sauk Centre Herald, which features a story on the B-B-E boys basketball team. It hits the local newsstands on Tuesday and the mailboxes on Wednesday.

Another blizzard tears across west central Minnesota

The boys basketball game between B-B-E and Paynesville has been postponed due to bad weather.

Another clip from the girls basketball game on Friday night...

On Tuesday night this week, the Jaguars girls basketball team will host #3-ranked Parkers Prairie in a non-conference game. Both are members of Sub-Section 6A-South, of which the Panthers are the defending champions. They took third place at the Class A state tournament last year.

The Jaguars boys basketball team will travel to Kimball on Tuesday night for their Central Minnesota Conference opener. Kimball Area is 4-1, having just lost their first game of the year to Upsala on Saturday 68-48 in the Cubs' home tournament. Upsala is 5-1.

Back and forth affair plays out between BBE and HLWW in girls basketball action, Lakers win 65-61

In a showdown between two contenders in the Central Minnesota Conference this season, the Jaguars girls basketball team jumped out to early leads over visiting Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted tonight. Scores in favor of the Jaguars at 6-2, 11-7, and 17-12 soon evaporated, though, as the Lakers snuck ahead 20-19 with 9:50 left in the first half.

With 5:34 left in the first half, the Jaguars led 26-24. They led 31-28 with a little over two minutes left before the Lakers made a big run to go in front 36-32. (See video clip below)

At halftime: HL-W-W 36, B-B-E 34.

The Jaguars fell behind by as many as 11 points in the second half, then went on a terrific 15-3 run to take a 53-52 lead with about 8:00 left in the game.

With 4:10 to play, the Lakers held a 61-55 lead. The Jaguars cut it down to two points with 34 seconds remaining.

Final score: HL-W-W 65, B-B-E 61. The Lakers went 13-of-20 from the free throw line; the Jaguars were 18-of-23. The Lakers made eight three point shots, while the Jaguars made three. That was the key difference in the game.

Both teams are now .500 overall and 1-1 in the CMC, with B-B-E at 2-2 and HL-W-W at 3-3.

The last time the Jaguars have defeated the Lakers in girls basketball was February 11, 2005. Final score, 52-46 in a game played at Howard Lake. The Jaguars were on their way to a comeback after losing eight in a row to fall to 3-8 on the season. The win over the Lakers brought them to 8-13 overall. They went on to finish as Sub-Section 5A-South champions that season, losing to Underwood in the Section 5A championship 57-51.

Check back for more video/photos over the weekend. Hopefully many of you will be at A-C-GC High School in Grove City on Saturday night, when the Jaguars boys basketball team is in action against West Central Area. Tip-off is 8pm.

The final 28 seconds of the first half plays out, with Shyan Kuefler launching a successful outside shot from the wing as time expired. The bucket made it a 36-34 deficit at the half for the Jaguars.

More first half action...


Central Minnesota Conference girls basketball results on Dec. 17:
Pierz 62, Eden Valley-Watkins 48
Rockford 67, Maple Lake 33
Kimball Area 54, Holdingford 51

Area girls basketball results on Dec. 17:
Sauk Centre 65, Osakis 23 (it was 41-13 at halftime)
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 52, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 41
ACGC 53, Minnewaska Area 26
Central Minnesota Christian 57, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 54
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 53, Minnewaska 26
Benson 67, Breckenridge 54
Dawson-Boyd 60, Renville County West 44
MACCRAY 76, Lakeview 34

Area boys basketball results on Dec. 17:
Minnewaska Area 80, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 49
Maple Lake 46, Eden Valley-Watkins 44 (a tournament, non-conference game)
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 66, Breckenridge 60 (OT)
Melrose Area 75, Foley 43
Montevideo 62, Paynesville Area 24
New London-Spicer 73, Litchfield 68 (OT)
Sauk Centre 67, Osakis 45
St.John's Prep 60, Holdingford 40

This Jaguars sports update is brought to you by:

Jaguars girls basketball improves to 2-1 after drubbing Maple Lake in the Central Minnesota Conference opener - Jaguars boys hoops pound Benson

Final score from Maple Lake tonight: B-B-E 67, Maple Lake 35. Quite a win for the Jaguars! They shot 57% from the floor in the win, while out-rebounding the smaller Irish by a whopping 46-19 margin. Even more impressive was their 63% shooting mark from two-point range. Junior post Shyan Kuefler led the Jaguars with an impressive double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds.

Maple Lake fell to 2-2 overall with the loss.

Two weeks into the season, the Jaguars girls basketball team leads the CMC with a 65 points per game offensive average. Defensively, they are third best out of the eight teams in the league at 46.3 points per game.

Central Minnesota Conference girls basketball results from Dec. 14:
Eden Valley-Watkins 60, Kimball Area 27
Pierz 56, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 48
Holdingford 75, Rockford 69

Pierz squares their record at 2-2; HLWW falls to 2-3. The Lakers travel to Belgrade to face the Jaguars this Friday night in another CMC game. Holdingford picked up their first win of the year vs. Rockford after two blowout losses to neighbors Albany and Upsala.

It should be a fun CMC girls basketball race this season. At least after seeing results of two of the opening-night games, it appears as though there are haves and have-nots in the league.

Scouting report from the HLWW vs. Pierz girls game: the host Lakers led 7-0 right off the bat. The Pioneers scored a 6-0 run to get it to a 26-25 deficit at halftime. The surge continued in the second half, as the Pioneers went on a 6-0 run out of the locker room to go up 31-26. Pierz never trailed in the second half, stretching the lead as high as 10 points. The Pierz posts combined for 31 rebounds and 6 blocks. Thanks to Pierz head coach Rick Sczublewski for that information.

**A sports broadcasting note: the Friday night girls hoops game between HLWW and the Jaguars will be aired on 106.5FM The Train. So will Thursday night's boys hoops game at Sauk Centre. Tune in if you can't make the game!

In the home opener for the Jaguars boys basketball team tonight, against Roger Lindahl's senior-dominated Benson team no less, the visiting Braves went home with a big 73-53 loss. The Jaguars improve to 3-0 overall heading into Thursday night's showdown at Sauk Centre in another non-conference game.

Benson has eight seniors on their boys basketball roster this year.

I tell you, scoring 275 points in their first three games is quite an accomplishment! We'll see how they do against the Mainstreeters, who are much improved over last year's unit.

At the Kimball Tri, the Jaguars wrestling team lost by wide margins in duals with the host Cubs and the Annandale/Maple Lake Lightning.

Area girls basketball scores on December 14:
Sauk Centre 66, St.Cloud Cathedral 43
Campbell-Tintah-Fairmont 45, Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 31
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 42, Minnewaska Area 35
Perham 69, West Central Area 64
Henning 47, Eagle Valley 38

Area boys basketball results on December 14:
LP-GE 68, Melrose Area 42 (LP-GE is a surprising 4-0)
Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 63, Underwood 33
West Central Area 77, Frazee 61 (WCA trailed 19-7 out of the gates but outscored the Hornets 48-31 in the second half to improve to 3-0)
Maple Lake 66, Foley 46
Yellow Medicine East 47, Paynesville Area 45
Delano 67, Rockford 45
St.Cloud Cathedral 73, Sauk Centre 62
Minnewaska Area 59, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 57 (quite a win in a classic border battle between conference/sub-section rivals on the Lakers' court)
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 53, Sibley East 50
Battle Lake 73, Hancock 45
Osakis 59, Swanville 54
New London-Spicer 88, Milaca 54
Brandon/Evansville 60, Ashby 40 (B/E is 3-0)
Montevideo 66, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 36

This Jaguars sports update is brought to you by:

A big win for the Jaguars girls basketball team vs. Ortonville, as they make the long trip back home with a 69-34 win

Picking up their first win of the 2010-2011 season, the B-B-E Jaguars girls basketball team annihilated the host Ortonville Trojans tonight in a non-conference game 69-34.

The Trojans fell to 1-2 overall. They dropped their season opener to Benson 63-42 on November 30, so tonight's game appeared to be up for grabs before tip-off.

Up next for the Jaguars girls basketball team: after going out west to the South Dakota border, the Jaguars will make the trip east down Highway 55 to Maple Lake next Tuesday (Dec. 14) for the Central Minnesota Conference opener against the Irish.

Coming tonight in a home wrestling match: the Jaguars wrestling team will host Maccray/Renville County West in a dual meet at the high school.

Area boys basketball results on December 9:
Minnewaska Area 69, Osakis 48
Sebeka 90, Upsala 76
Albany 61, Holdingford 35
Royalton 56, Onamia 55
Big Lake 59, Pierz 55
Kimball Area 55, Milaca 54
Bertha-Hewitt 70, Parkers Prairie 45
Brandon-Evansville 58, Eagle Valley 46
Redwood Valley 61, BOLD 60 (that had to be a heck of a game!)
West Central Area 42, Hancock 40

My comment: it'll be a long season for boys basketball in Holdingford, I heard one of their top players quit the team recently.

Also, if you haven't heard already, the Jaguars boys basketball team faces WCA in the championship game at the A-C-GC tournament in Grove City this Saturday night. I'll confirm the start time on Friday and get it posted ASAP.

Area girls basketball results on December 9:
St.Cloud Cathedral 56, Eden Valley-Watkins 49
Rockford 63, Zimmeran 34
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 46, Kimball Area 37
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 58, MACCRAY 46 (K-M-S makes a statement tonight in the Camden North Conference)

...and, another clip from the wrestling meet last week at B-B-E. Sophomore Austin Jaeger wins by pin in his 125-pound third-place match against Carter Duncan of West Central Area.


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Schedule for Benson girls basketball tournament coming this weekend

Friday night's games: 6:00pm - MACCRAY Wolverines vs. Prairie Seeds Academy Lycans. Approx. 25 minutes after that, sometime between 7:30 and 8pm, the second game will start between the host Benson Braves and the Jaguars girls basketball team.

A JV game between Benson and B-B-E will be played at 6pm on Friday night.

Prairie Seeds Academy is a charter school from Brooklyn Park, MN. Their boys soccer team won the Class A state title just a few weeks ago.

Benson went 21-7 last year, one of their better seasons in school history, while finishing as runners-up in the Sub-Section 6AA-West championship game. They lost to Staples-Motley, a team that fell in the Section 6AA title game to Sauk Centre last March.

The third place game will be at 6pm on Saturday night, with the championship game to follow.

**Just added on Monday night...Girls basketball pre-season rankings by the Minnesota Basketball News publication:
Class AA - Sauk Centre is 7th. Class A - Parkers Prairie is 5th, Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart is 6th, Minneota is 9th.

Haven't found the preseason boys basketball rankings yet.

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