GAME NIGHT! Border battle!

It is GAME NIGHT in Jaguar Country!

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.

Two home basketball wins (VIDEO)

The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team won a barn burner tonight in a home border battle. In front of a packed crowd of Jaguar and Fighting Saints fans, they utilized some hot outside shooting while defeating Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 70-67. Overall, B-B-E shot 49 percent from the floor while making 7 of 18 three-point shots. The Jaguars (7-5) have a short turnaround as they host Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City this week Thursday in a Central Minnesota Conference game.

K-M-S, who has 13 seniors on its roster, fell to 8-5 overall. Two of those 13 seniors are still out with football-related injuries from last fall: Hunter Kallstrom and Malaki Lee.

Also in a home game tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team defeated Maple Lake 70-23 in a CMC game to improve to 9-6 overall. This is their fourth straight win and the first of a three-game homestand. Next is a home game this Friday against a very good Royalton team.

For B-B-E, sophomore Tiffany Dingmann had a career high 12 points off the bench. Leading the team was junior Bree Thieschafer with 14 points. Also in double figures was Brooklyn Fischer with 13 points. Overall, the Jaguars collected 24 steals against an undermanned Irish team.

Here's a video from the first half of the boys' basketball game tonight:


It was a run-and-gun style game and highly entertaining for the fans The game's first 13 minutes featured multiple lead changes. That video starts with about 10:30 left in the first half and K-M-S holding an 18-17 lead.

Later in the evening, I haven't received any wrestling results out of Eden Valley.

Central Minnesota Conference girls' basketball scores on January 16:
Holdingford 50, Kimball Area 34
Paynesville Area 55, Eden Valley-Watkins 39
Royalton 58, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 41

Area boys' basketball scores on January 16:
Eden Valley-Watkins 84, Kimball Area 60 (this was a CMC game)
Browerville 90, St. John's Prep 53
Melrose Area 70, Holdingford 46
Parkers Prairie 71, Rothsay 41
Sauk Centre 54, West Central Area 50 (a huge West Central Conference win for Coach Kevin Kuefler's Mainstreeters in Barrett)
Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 57, Underwood 47

A win and a loss (VIDEO)

On the road in a sub-section matchup with Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg, the No. 7-ranked B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team saw their seven-game winning streak snapped with a fleet-footed Fighting Saints coming out on top 74-71. A late three-pointer by Luke Illies drew the Jaguars within one at a 72-71 deficit in the final seconds.

K-M-S improves to 18-5 overall with their fifth straight win, while the Jaguars fall to 17-4.

On the home floor for Parents Night, the No. 12-ranked B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team rebounded from Tuesday's tough loss to Royalton by defeating Paynesville Area 47-35 in Central Minnesota Conference action. At halftime, the Bulldogs led 22-18. B-B-E had trailed 15-3 with 9:30 to go before halftime, and they eventually tied the game with 11:52 left in the second half on two Brooklyn Fischer free throws. Paynesville's final lead of the game came with 11:40 left on two Katie Uhlenkamp free throws for a 30-28 advantage.

*Here's a short video clip from the first half tonight:


Sidebar: in the JV girls' basketball game, the Bulldogs and Jaguars battled through two overtime periods! It was crazy. The six minutes of overtime action lasted over 20 minutes. Unreal. Paynesville took a 37-33 lead in the final minute of the second overtime period with two bonus free throws. Then with 47 seconds left, Ava Deters squared up on the left wing and buried a three-pointer! Then with about 19 seconds left, Grace Jackson stole the ball near midcourt, sped down court and hit a close-range shot off the glass for a 38-37 lead with 15 seconds to go. Final score: B-B-E 39, Paynesville 37 in 2 OT!

The girls' basketball Jaguars shot a season-low 25 percent from the floor but went a solid 78 percent (15-of-19) at the charity stripe.

UP next: the girls' basketball team hosts Pine River-Backus for a section contest on Monday, February 20 for Seniors Night.

Central MN Conference girls' basketball scores on February 17:
Kimball Area 50, Royalton 47
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 54, Eden Valley-Watkins 42

Area girls' basketball scores on February 17:
Upsala 56, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 24
New London-Spicer 57, Glencoe-Silver Lake 33
Pierz 36, Little Falls 34
No. 15 Kelliher/Northome 62, No. 7 Nevis 56
Annandale 54, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 26
Watertown-Mayer 54, Litchfield 35
Parkers Prairie 47, Browerville 43
Sauk Centre 58, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 34
Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 74, Hinckley-Finlayson 32
Mayer Lutheran 61, Minneota 43
South Ridge 58, East Central 28
Park Rapids Area 61, Pine River-Backus 39
New York Mills 58, Verndale 42
Henning 67, Bertha-Hewitt 46
Wadena-Deer Creek 62, Sebeka 42

Area boys' basketball scores on February 17:
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 67, Annandale 60
Eden Valley-Watkins 72, Paynesville Area 61 (a CMC game, and the Eagles now hold first place alone in the conference)
Melrose Area 60, Montevideo 47
Glencoe-Silver Lake 76, New London-Spicer 59
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 79, Benson 48
Little Falls 59, Pierz 56
Underwood 36, Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 31
West Central Area 80, Minnewaska Area 46
Park Christian 73, Brandon-Evansville 47
Cass Lake-Bena 98, Nevis 83
Border West 80, Hancock 57

Step II: moving on to the 'Ship! B-B-E Jaguars land sub-section finals berth! (VIDEOS!)

They are heading on! Moving on to the 'SHIP! THIS NEVER GETS OLD. NOT FOR ONE SECOND!

The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team won in three sets tonight against a scrappy, hustling and determined K-M-S Fighting Saints squad. The sub-section semi border battle featured a near-packed gymnasium with deafening crowd noise at times. It was playoff volleyball at its best on our home court! The Fighting Saints play in the completely stacked, brutally tough Camden Conference and have seen just about everything there is to see on a volleyball court. That showed all night, as they did not back down from B-B-E's relentless attack. The Jaguars had to elevate their level of play all night long, and they did. Terrific performance!

The Fighting Saints finish 12-17 overall. They had eight seniors on the roster.

When and where do they play next? Read further below on this blog post to see that! And how many sub-section championship berths has our volleyball program earned? I'll tell you how many: 20! YES! That's 20. B-B-E's volleyball program now has earned 20 sub-section finals appearances in school history dating back to the first time they achieved that feat in 1994. Of those previous 19 appearances, I was fortunate enough to witness 16 of them! As I said earlier and have said many times before: this never, ever gets old!!!

**Here's footage from the end of game one tonight:


The Fighting Saints were what volleyball technicians would call an "in system" unit as the match got underway. They were firing with a high level of energy and enthusiasm while enjoying a great following of fans. Their passing was crisp, they had outstanding serve-receive and their blockers were meeting what B-B-E's attackers were dishing out. Two early kills put K-M-S ahead 3-2, and they had back-to-back kills for a 5-3 lead. K-M-S later had a kill and then an ace block to go up 7-4. Enter middle hitter Allison Dingmann, who knocked down a kill for a badly-needed side out. Ava Mueller then crushed an attack into a block attempt for a kill, and she hit for a second straight kill to tie it at 7-7. The Jaguars were rolling! The scoring streak reached eight in a row with Kylie Weller rattling off three straight ace serves to put the Jaguars in front 12-7. Coach Molenaar needed a timeout.

Out of that early timeout, K-M-S got an ace block for a side out. Mueller quickly knocked down a kill for a 13-8 lead. K-M-S had back-to-back hitting errors, and a kill by Brooklyn Fischer made it 17-9. Mueller had back-to-back kills to bring game point, and a Fighting Saints hitting error finished the game in favor of the Jaguars by a 25-12 score.

**Here's a video from the middle portion of game two tonight:


That previous video begins with the Jaguars ahead 17-12 after Anna Jaeger earned an ace serve. The video ends with the Jaguars holding a 21-15 lead.

Game scores for the night were 25-12, 25-19, 25-18. The Jaguars had a stellar night at the net with 41 kills on 109 attacks and just eight hitting errors! Wow! That made for a 30.3 percent hitting mark to go with 10 ace serves, 6 solo blocks and 2 block assists. In game three, senior Ava Mueller eclipsed the 1,000 career kills mark. What an achievement for her and the team!

**And the Jaguars take the court tonight!:


NEXT: the Jaguars (23-6) advance to the Sub-Section 6A-South championship, which will be at 7:30 p.m. next Thursday, November 3 at Fergus Falls high school. Their opponent will be No. 2-seeded Brandon-Evansville. The Chargers won 3-0 tonight against No. 3-seeded Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley; game scores were 25-19, 25-22, 28-26. Brandon-Evansville is 17-10 overall. They finished 7-2 in the 10-team Little Eight Conference, which was good for third place alone ahead of Underwood and Parkers Prairie (tied for fourth at 6-3 each).

**And here's a video uploaded late Friday night featuring senior Ava Mueller talking about tonight's win:


Sub-Section 6A-North semifinal volleyball scores on October 28:
Henning 3, New York Mills 0 (5th-seeded Eagles finish a great season 21-7 overall)
No. 3-seeded Breckenridge 3, No. 2-seeded Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 0

Sub-Section 3AA-North volleyball quarterfinals on October 28:
Minnewaska Area 3, Eden Valley-Watkins 1 (big upset win by the Lakers, who are 12-14)
Litchfield 3, West Central Area 1
Paynesville Area 3, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 0
New London-Spicer 3, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 1

In Section 5AA play tonight, Maple Lake won 3-0 against visiting Spectrum in their play-in round match. The Irish (11-13) move on to the Section 5AA quarterfinals. Kimball Area had a No. 4 seed in Section 5AA which earned them a first-round bye. In Section 6AA, No. 10-seeded Holdingford improved to 15-12 overall with an upset 3-0 win at No. 7-seeded Foley in their play-in round match.