Giant-slaying effort falters down the stretch, dance team hauls in more trophies (VIDEOS)

First, here's a video from the home dance competition held tonight.

This is the video of the awards ceremony...


This makes it SIX-FOR-SIX! Six competitions this season, and six competitions where the Pirouettes have earned hardware.

And now for some basketball coverage...
A valiant effort for a second-half comeback tonight faded in the closing minutes for the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team against undefeated Royalton. In a battle of two of the top teams in the Central Minnesota Conference, the Jaguars were unable to erase what was as much as a 20-point deficit from the first half. Final: Royalton 62, B-B-E 53.

At halftime, the Royals (12-0, 6-0) led 36-23. The gap was as wide as 20 points with about 2:30 left, when Royalton led 36-16.

Here's action from early in the 2nd half tonight:


How the second half played out...
With a steep, uphill climb at hand, the Jaguars came out firing after halftime. Bree Thieschafer scored the first points of the second half on a three-pointer with 16:32 on the clock. With 16:10 left, Teagan Dingmann went 2-for-2 at the line to make it a 38-28 score. With just over 13 minutes left, Adley Hagen scored on a left side drive off the glass to make the score 41-31. Across the next 4 minutes of the game, the Jaguars pushed the deficit into the low single digits. With 9:10 left, Thieschafer scored a cleanup shot on a fast break to make it 41-38.

At the 8:50 mark, Royalton scored in the paint but missed an and-one free throw that made it 43-38. Over 2 minutes passed by with no scoring by either team.

With 6:45 left in the game, Kacey Fischer knocked down a wide open three-pointer near the right wing to cut what was a giant deficit to just 43-41. The pace of the game was in B-B-E's favor, and the lead was within reach.

Royalton junior forward Haylie Wolbeck's three-pointer with 6:15 left pushed their lead to 48-41. Later, with 5:05 left, Mya Worms scored in the lane to get it to a 50-45 deficit. That was as close as they could get, as the Royals pushed the lead back to double digits at 55-45 with 3:40 to go.

The Jaguars (10-6, 5-2) shot just 21 percent in the first half as they saw their six-game winning streak halted. They have little time to lick their wounds, however, as they have a huge, huge Section 5A game back on the home floor tomorrow night with Pine River-Backus. The Tigers (10-4 overall) are the No. 3-ranked team in Sub-Section 5A-West. In Sub-Section 5A-East, the Jaguars are ranked No. 2 behind Braham (11-3).

For the game, B-B-E made just 11 of 47 field goals inside the arc. On the three-point line, they made 6 of 18 attempts. Bree Thieschafer and Adley Hagen had two three-pointers each. At the free throw line, the Jaguars made 13 of 18 attempts.

In the home dance competition tonight...
The B-B-E/Paynesville Pirouettes dance team earned hardware at their home competition tonight. This makes them 6-for-6 for the season! I don't have full results at my fingertips, but I know the JV Kick squad took first place. They have competed in six competitions so far, and they've come home with hardware every one of them. The Pirouttes have a big competition coming up, as they travel to Rocori high school on Saturday. Teams in Class 1A at Rocori include BOLD, Bagley, Melrose Area, Minnewaska Area, Pierz and Sauk Centre.

**Here's a video featuring the JV Jazz team performing tonight:


In boys' basketball action...
In a border battle at Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team suffered a tough 71-42 loss to see their two-game winning streak end. Ice cold 6-of-33 field goal shooting (18%) in the second half was a huge factor in the loss after they trailed just 19-18 with about 9 minutes to go in the first half. At the break, the Fighting Saints led 41-24.

Luke Illies had 14 points, and Lance Radermacher was also in double figures with 10 points. Next: the boys' basketball team travels to Royalton tomorrow for a CMC game.

Central MN Conference girls' basketball scores on January 16:
Kimball Area 56, Holdingford 52 (a huge win for the Cubs against the three-time defending champion Huskers, and now Kimball Area is a half game out of first place)

Area girls' basketball scores on January 16:
Minnewaska Area 82, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 25 (the halftime score in rural Starbuck was 58-4...ouch!)
Mayer Lutheran 68, BOLD 57 (a great effort by BOLD against the vaunted Crusaders)
Albany 54, Milaca 50
New London-Spicer 69, Eden Valley-Watkins 32
Sauk Centre 57, Melrose Area 31
Osakis 71, Browerville 32
West Central Area 58, Montevideo 32
Underwood 71, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 32
Hancock 62, Brandon-Evansville 40
Swanville 85, St. John's Prep 35
Yellow Medicine East 61, Dawson-Boyd 32
Parkers Prairie 61, Ashby 24
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 60, Minneota 53 (this is perhaps K-M-S's first-ever win against Minneota)
Lac qui Parle Valley 65, Renville County West 59
Central MN Christian 68, Canby 28
MACCRAY 61, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 20
Park Rapids Area 66, Nevis 49

Area boys' basketball scores on January 16:
Staples-Motley 90, Royalton 62
Eden Valley-Watkins 49, New London-Spicer 39
MA/CA 80, Paynesville Area 42
Benson 81, Swanville 54

Preparing for another super busy night

No shortage of action tonight!

We have TWO home varsity events in Jaguar Country tonight, Thursday, January 16. First, I'll direct your attention to fresh updates on the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website, which you can find here: https://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com.

The B-B-E/Paynesville Pirouettes dance team has their home competition tonight at 6 p.m. at the elementary school. They are persevering in the wake of losing the home dance competition due to inclement weather in December. Being able to host tonight is wonderful!

Also at home, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team has their biggest game of the season so far by hosting Royalton at the high school in Central Minnesota Conference action. First place is on the line! The Royals enter the game 11-0 overall with a perfect 5-0 mark in the conference. The Jaguars are just one game behind (a half game, technically) with a 6-1 record.

In a border battle at Kerkhoven tonight,, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team puts their winning streak on the line when they take on Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg in a non-conference game.

GAME updates to follow...
**In the girls' basketball varsity game, The Royals are ahead 7 to 3 with 3 minutes played.

Halftime: Royalton 36, B-B-E 23.

Three varsity teams earn wins

Updates, with a Tuesday night scoreboard, are being added to this blog post on Thursday morning.

All three varsity teams that were in action tonight earned wins in their respective competitions.

At home, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team earned a 79-64 win over Maple Lake in a Central Minnesota Conference game. This improved their record to 2-9 overall with their second straight win. In the CMC, the Jaguars hold a 1-3 record, while the Irish fell to 0-12 overall (0-5 CMC). Next: the boys' basketball team travels the short trip into Swift County on Thursday this week for a border battle at Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg (4-6, 2-4 Camden North). They have a key CMC game the next day at Royalton (5-5, 1-3) in the second of a brutal four-game road swing. They travel to Upsala next Tuesday and then Paynesville Area (7-5, 3-1) on Thursday, January 23.

At a home triangular in Belgrade, the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team was defeated by Osakis 44-29 in the first event of the night. The Silverstreaks, who compete in Section 6A, then beat Eden Valley-Watkins to improve to 10-5 overall. In the final dual, the Jaguars defeated Eden Valley-Watkins 50-21 to improve to 3-6 overall. The Eagles, who compete in Section 4A in the playoffs, fell to 6-8 overall. Next: the wrestling team travels south to the New London-Spicer Invitational on Friday this week with a start time of 3:30 p.m.

In a road CMC game at Maple Lake tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team shook off a rough first half of play while earning a 69-48 win over the Irish. The Jaguars shot just 23 percent in the first half and sat in a 29-29 tie at halftime. Bree Thieschafer led the Jaguars with 18 points on 8-of-14 field goal shooting plus 8 rebounds and 2 assists. Next: the girls' basketball team (10-5, 5-1) has their biggest game of the season so far when Royalton comes to Belgrade on Thursday this week. A win by B-B-E would pull them into a virtual first-place tie in the CMC with the Royals (11-0, 5-0) and Holdingford (10-4, 5-1).

That's it. Time to finish the newspaper for the printing press.

**Thursday night this week...
the dance team competes at home at 6 p.m. at the elementary school.

Central MN Conference girls' basketball scores on January 14:
Eden Valley-Watkins 54, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 41 (game played on Monday this week)
Royalton 71, Rocori 36 (game played on Monday this week)

Central MN Conference boys' basketball scores on January 14:
Eden Valley-Watkins 62, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 48
Holdingford 63, Kimball Area 43 (Kimball's first CMC loss of the season)
Paynesville Area 79, Royalton 54

Area girls' basketball scores on January 14:
Pequot Lakes 54, Holdingford 50
Melrose Area 64, Paynesville Area 61
Annandale 41, Kimball Area 38
Upsala 68, Mille Lacs 22
New London-Spicer 74, Litchfield 35
Lac qui Parle Valley 52, Benson 38
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 80, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 32
Bertha-Hewitt 67, Verndale 33
Braham 71, Foley 57
Minnewaska Area 59, BOLD 54
Redwood Valley 55, Montevideo 51
Osakis 54, Swanville 35
Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 57, Underwood 42
Hancock 85, Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 26
Pine River-Backus 87, Browerville 30

Area boys' basketball scores on January 14:
Upsala 75, Mille Lacs 42
Sauk Centre 67, Annandale 63
Litchfield 66, New London-Spicer 50
Underwood 71, Brandon-Evansville 60
Henning 72, Browerville 59
Montevideo 80, Redwood Valley 59
Hancock 62, Rothsay 38
Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 67, Parkers Prairie 36
Border West 76, Battle Lake 52
Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 86, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 57

GAME NIGHT and then some in Jaguar Country

Too busy to post much here...lots of events tonight. Now, it's time to head to Maple Lake before returning for home wrestling triangular action in Belgrade. I'll blog again once I'm in Maple Lake to update this post.

Update at halftime in Maple Lake: the girls' basketball team sits in a 29-29 tie with the Irish, who entered the game with a 2-10 overall record. On the home mats back in Belgrade, the wrestling team lost in the first dual of the triangular to Osakis. More to come in a NEW blog post after 9 p.m.

Pirouettes shine again - now FIVE for FIVE! plus Winter Sports Show No. 5 (VIDEOS**)

Today, the B-B-E/Paynesville Pirouettes dance team made it an unprecedented five straight for competitions where they've hauled home hardware. Both the JV kick (first place) and JV jazz (second place) squads were outstanding in the Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City Invitational. Next for the dance team is their home competition next Thursday, January 16 - details TBA.

Here's a video featuring the JV Kick squad at Alexandria one week ago:


In a tough field out of 7 teams in Alexandria, the JV Kick Pirouettes earned a second-place trophy.

More to come. After a lengthy break from recording them, I'm back in the swing of things and am preparing a new sports podcast for tonight.

**And fresh from the sports department's recording studio! Here it is:


As I stated multiple times in the video...repeat after me! Be a good teammate. Be a good teammate. Be a good teammate!

And circling back to last night in girls' basketball action...

Here's part of the starter introductions last night in Grove City, plus the tip-off and first few minutes of the game:


Tomorrow, the 5th grade girls' basketball team is heading to Benson for a tournament. No rest for the restless!

Area girls' basketball scores on January 11:
Mountain Iron-Buhl 77, Braham 65
Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 57, Park Christian 48
Sauk Centre 67, Montevideo 38
Cass Lake-Bena 73, Perham 63
Wabasso 57, Red Rock Central 47
Willmar 71, Mound Westonka 42

Area boys' basketball scores on January 11:
West Central Area 60, Ada-Borup West 56
Redwood Valley 84, Delano 76
Hutchinson 54, Worthington 53
Cherry 78, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 64
Nevis 63, Henning 57
Park Christian 55, Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 49
BOLD 60, Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart 22

This was a 5-and-0 night! (VIDEO)

How was it a 5-0 night? I'll take a little time to get through it all. Video is uploading from Grove City. ALSO...Saturday...this took me away from sports, but it was a great event....my wife and I attended a University of Minnesota event at Redhead Creamery. (Website: https://redheadcreamery.com.) We had a tremendous time! Now, Saturday afternoon, time to get to Eden Valley for youth girls' basketball action.

Friday night...
In a Central Minnesota Conference road game, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team faced a hard-nosed Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City Falcons squad that kept things tight through the entire first half of play. At the break, the Jaguars held a 26-21 lead. They built a lead as large as 19 points in the second half on their way to a 57-48 win.

Early in the first half, the Jaguars led 11-5 with just over 13 minutes to go. Three minutes later, the Falcons took a 12-11 lead on a three-pointer. One minute after that, with 10 minutes to go, Tiffany Dingmann drained an open three-pointer at the top of the key just before the shot clock expired. This gave the Jaguars a 14-12 lead. A defensive battle played out across the last 9 minutes of the game. With 7:35 left, A-C-GC's talented junior forward Ruby Klinger scored in the paint to put her squad in front 16-14.

B-B-E had a 7-0 scoring run capped by a shot by Bree Thieschafer with 6:20 left. The 21-16 lead shrunk to 21-19, and the Jaguars scored 5 of the last 7 points made to lead 26-21 at halftime.

A wicked full court press made a wreck of A-C-GC as the second half got underway. The Falcons struggled to establish passing lanes and quickly fell back 36-21. With 14:45 left, Thieschafer's layup capped a 10-0 scoring run that put the Jaguars ahead 36-21.

Here's a video from late in the 2nd half at ACGC tonight, with just under 5 minutes to go in the game


A-C-GC, whose tough, physical defense held B-B-E to cold 26 percent field goal shooting, fell to 3-6 overall (1-4 CMC), while B-B-E improved to 9-5 overall (5-1 CMC). Next: the girls' basketball team travels to Maple Lake (2-9, 0-5) next Tuesday for a CMC game.

In northeastern Grant County tonight...
In their best performance of the season, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team played an incredible game from start to finish and recorded a 58-44 win against Ashby on the road. The Jaguars are 1-10 overall, while the Arrows fall to 6-4 with their fourth straight loss. B-B-E's defense was terrific the entire game, and they held Ashby's top scorer, senior guard Easton Nelson, to 7 points. The Jaguars were led by Taylor Pieper's 17 points. Josh Walstrom had 14 points, and Luke Illies scored 13 points.

The Jaguars shot 33 percent from the field with 5-of-25 marks beyond the arc. They were 11-for-21 at the free throw line. Ashby shot 35 percent, including 8-of-27 marks beyond the arc. At the free throw line, the Arrows were 0-for-4 in the game. B-B-E out-rebounded Ashby 43 to 21. Sophomore forward Traeton Nelson led his team with 22 points as the lone Arrow player in double figures.

Next: the boys' basketball team hosts Maple Lake (0-10) next Tuesday in a CMC game.

Update on Saturday afternoon...
The 5-0 record comes from the JV boys' basketball team also winning in Ashby...PLUS! The JV girls' basketball team won 40-35 in Grove City, and the C-squad Class of 2029 Jaguars prevailed in a nailbiter by a 25-21 score. They had trailed 21-17 before clamping down defensively in the final stretch! WooHoo!

I have to catch up with how the wrestlers did at Minnewaska Area.

And now for wrestling news!
The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team earned a third-place finish in a tough 11-team field at Minnewaska Area tonight. They finished with 147 points, just behind runner-up Thief River Falls's 149 points. Little Falls, ranked No. 6 in the latest Class 2A Guillotine rankings, won the team title with 208 points. The host Lakers were in fourth with 134 points.

The Thief River Falls Prowlers wrestling team, which competes in Section 8AA, is a co-op team that includes athletes from high schools in Goodridge, Warren-Alvarado-Oslo, Marshall County Central and Red Lake County Central.

Individual results by weight division:
107: Noah Jensen 1st place.
114: Noah Welte 2nd place.
121: Noah DeRoo 5th place.
127: Jace Mueller 4th place.
133: Logan Oeltjenbruns 5th place.
139: Louie Tensen 3rd place.
145: Dylan Koob did not place.
152: Andrew Spanier 6th place.
160: Brett DeRoo 1st place.
172: open.
189: Hunter Laage 3rd place.
215: Carson Gilbert 1st place.
285: Eli Wold 6th place.

Looking ahead...
Tomorrow, the B-B-E/Paynesville Pirouettes dance team travels to the A-C-GC Invitational. The competition gets underway at 11 a.m. at A-C-GC high school.

GAME NIGHT in Meeker, Douglas and Pope counties (VIDEO)

They are spread all across central Minnesota!

Tonight, in Meeker County, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team plays in the Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City high school in Grove City. They take on the Falcons (3-5) in a Central Minnesota Conference game.

At Ashby, the boys' basketball team plays, while the wrestlers are at the Minnewaska Invitational.

Here's a clip from the second half of the Paynesville game on Tuesday this week:


Today, the community held a tremendous going-away celebration for Suzanne Sagedahl, who passed away last Sunday after an 18-year battle with cancer. The funeral service, which held the form of a true celebration of her life, was held at Trinity Lutheran Church in Brooten. She was a 1974 graduate of Brooten who has a feature article on her athletic career in this week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

GAME updates to follow here later tonight...
**With 3:30 left before halftime, the Jaguars are ahead 21-18.

**Halftime: BBE 25, ACGC 21.

At Ashby, the boys' basketball team has a 31-24 lead at halftime. 

Boys final: B-B-E 58, Ashby 44.

Girls final: B-B-E 57, ACGC 48.

Jaguars suffer through difficult second half (VIDEOS**)

A rough second half of play doomed the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team as they surrendered 39 points after halftime to Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City. They were held scoreless for an 8-minute stretch across the last 6 minutes of the first half and the first portion of the second half. Final: A-C-GC 65, B-B-E 38.

A-C-GC improved to 6-2 overall; they are currently averaging 72 points per game and are ranked the 6th-best (QRF) team in Section 2A.

Here's a video featuring the last 20 seconds of the first half tonight:


How the game developed...
A-C-GC led 4-0 out of the gate, but the Jaguars gained their first lead after Luke Illies made a three-pointer and Josh Walstrom scored on a mid-range shot for a 5-4 lead with 2 minutes played. The Falcons pulled ahead 11-7, but Owen Radermacher cut that to one point with a three-pointer with 8:51 to go. Walstrom's layup made it a 13-12 deficit, but Taylor Pieper canned a three with 6:08 to go for a 15-14 lead.

A costly scoring drought lasted the rest of the first half. The Falcons then scored the first two field goals of the second half to stretch their lead to 30-15. Walstrom scored on a layup with 15:45 left to break the dry spell, but the deficit swelled to 36-19 just a minute later.

Across the next 3 minutes of the game, the Falcons pushed their lead to 47-25, and the Jaguars were unable to cut it to less than 20 points across the final 10 minutes of the game.

Late in the game, a moment to celebrate took place when Carson Savage subbed in to shoot three free throws. The senior made 2 of them, which marked a triumphant return to action roughly 3 months after he suffered a serious broken leg injury. Back on October 4, he broke his leg in the 4th quarter of the football game at Browerville. He received special cheers from the student section when Coach Rambow subbed him in. That was fun to see!

A-C-GC finished with 50 percent field goal shooting, while the Jaguars shot 33 percent in both halves.

Here's a video featuring the pep band performing the National Anthem followed by the starter introductions, tip-off and the opening minutes of the first half:


Next: the Jaguars travel to Ashby (6-3, 4-2 Little Eight Conference) tomorrow night for a sub-section game with the Arrows.

ALSO ON FRIDAY night...the girls' basketball team travels to A-C-GC high school in Grove City, and the wrestling team is at the Minnewaska Area Invitational (4 p.m.).

Central MN Conference girls' basketball scores on January 9:
Royalton 71, Paynesville Area 49 (in a big road win, Royals stay perfect at 10-0 and are 5-0 in the CMC)
Eden Valley-Watkins 65, Maple Lake 32

Central MN Conference boys' basketball scores on January 9:
Kimball Area 74, Paynesville Area 69
Holdingford 80, Royalton 50
Eden Valley-Watkins 66, Maple Lake 51

Area boys' basketball scores on January 9:
BOLD 54, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 47
Montevideo 70, Benson 36
Sauk Centre 45, Melrose Area 41
Swanville 64, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 46
Border West 71, Ashby 48
Underwood 67, Battle Lake 27
Osakis 61, Browerville 57
Alexandria 90, Fergus Falls 46
Brandon-Evansville 63, Rothsay 57
Hancock 87, Parkers Prairie 55
West Central Area 72, Minnewaska Area 55
Central MN Christian 65, MACCRAY 52
Lac qui Parle Valley 76, Milbank SD 66

Area girls' basketball scores on January 9:
Ogilvie 57, Mora 42
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 48, Litchfield 34
West Central Area 64, Osakis 40
St. Cloud Cathedral 69, Melrose Area 57
Parkers Prairie 61, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 56
Cass Lake-Bena 90, Pine River-Backus 57
MACCRAY 57, Canby 54
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 83, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 30
Renville County West 66, Dawson-Boyd 57
Central MN Christian 67, Minneota 53
Lakeview 61, Lac qui Parle Valley 41

It's GAME NIGHT! in Jaguar Country

Tonight's home contest between our B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team and the Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City Falcons will be aired on The Train 106.5 FM of Norway Lake-Sunburg. Their website is https://www.willmarradio.com/the_train. Also! The Pep Band is in action! Busy night!

Game updates to follow here...
**With just under 9 minutes to go, the Falcons are ahead 11 to 10.

Halftime: A-C-GC 26, B-B-E 15. More to come in a new blog post later tonight.

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

Home cooking on Tuesday night (VIDEOS)

We have home cooking on Tuesday this week for our No. 7-ranked B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team, as they are set to host Paynesville Area (1-9, 1-2) in another Central Minnesota Conference game. Paynesville's lone win was against Eden Valley-Watkins on December 12 in Eden Valley by a 57-42 score. The Jaguars are very much still in the race for the Central Minnesota Conference title, but they need to stay in the "one loss" column to keep pace with front-runner Royalton.

The Jaguars are 7-5 overall and winners of three straight. In the CMC, the Jaguars are 3-1 and in a tie for second place with Holdingford. Royalton is in first place with a 3-0 record (8-0 overall). B-B-E and Royalton won't meet until January 16 in Belgrade, and the rematch for those teams is on Tuesday, February 18 in Royalton.

Also on Tuesday, the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team is in action with a road trip to Benson for a Section 5A match up. The Jaguars were ranked No. 10 in the latest Class 1A Guillotine rankings. Also! Congratulations to seniors Brett DeRoo and Carson Gilbert, as they both earned their 150th career win during their respective championship matches on Friday at the home invitational.

Let's jazz up this blog post with some video...added on Tuesday afternoon.

Here's a video from Friday night in Eden Valley:


I hope you enjoy the marvelous performance of the National Anthem by an EV-W high school student.

And here's a shorter video clip recorded with just over 4 minutes left in the opening half at EV-W:


...and shifting gears to the next day.

Here's a video recorded in the heart of Colfax Township, rural New London, this past Saturday night:


The Smilin' D Arena and Events center received recent Bonanza Valley Voice coverage from a youth event held in December. They'll get more ink this week from a bull riding event they had on Saturday night to help kick off the new year in style!

In other news...here's recent job openings that are posted in the newspaper: https://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com/classifieds/category/employment.

In college basketball news...
The Northland Technical and Community College Pioneers women's basketball team, ranked No. 2 in the latest NJCAA Division III polls, earned a 104-62 win on Saturday on their home court against Minnesota North College-Vermillion. The Pioneers (11-4 overall) led 57-34 at halftime and expanded that to 82-45 by the end of the third quarter. Sophomore Tiyana Schwinghammer played 24 minutes and scored 16 points with 10 rebounds, 3 blocked shots, 2 assists and 1 steal.

In a home game on Saturday, the Minnesota State University-Moorhead Dragons women's basketball team suffered from cold 29 percent field goal shooting in a 74-50 loss to the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Sophomore Abby Berge scored 7 points. The Dragons fell to 6-8 overall and 4-4 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. On Friday night, the MSU-M Dragons lost 78-54 to No. 16-ranked Concordia-St. Paul. The Golden Bears (13-1, 7-1) held a 45-18 lead at halftime. Berge had 7 points with 5 rebounds and 2 assists.

Area girls' basketball scores on Saturday, January 4:
Central MN Christian 62, Paynesville Area 37 (at Target Center)
Albany 51, Detroit Lakes 39
Monticello 63, Willmar 48
Mountain Iron-Buhl 76, Brandon-Evansville 48
Barnum 61, Mora 58
Becker 65, Rock Ridge 57
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 68, Benson 30
Lakeview 44, Russel-Tyler-Ruthton 40

Area boys' basketball scores on Saturday, January 4:
Holdingford 72, Little Falls 58 (the Huskers are off to a 7-2 start with their best record at this point in a season since 2019-2020 when they finished 12-16)
Russel-Tyler-Ruthton 62, Lakeview 51
Upsala 69, Swanville 67
Dawson-Boyd 80, Southwest MN Christian 45
West Central Area 69, Norman County East/Ulen-Hitterdal 53
Paynesville Area 79, Central MN Christian 76 (at Target Center)
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 90, Benson 83 (two overtimes!)