B-B-E's Sno-Daze begins tomorrow morning *(UPDATED)

Sno-Daze is being held at B-B-E schools this week for the 36th time in school history. The senior royalty candidates were featured on page 5 in the February 5 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper. You can read more at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website by clicking here: BBESnoDazeWeek.

In the attached video in that web article, you can watch footage from Sno-Daze coronation in February 2015.

And now it's late Tuesday morning...
The 36th B-B-E Sno-Daze King and Queen are seniors Aiden Radermacher and Annie Schmidt. Video is uploading.

Here you can see the coronation crowning take place...click over to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website: BBESnoDazeCoronation.

Every day is a perfect day to improve yourself!

I'm blogging on this sunny, mild afternoon from the University of Minnesota-Morris Cougar Sports Center. I made the trip with my youngest daughter for pitching and hitting camps hosted by the UM-Morris Cougars fastpitch softball team. Last Sunday, I visited with B-B-E head fastpitch coach Logan Funk about the UMM softball clinics, and he reported that a few high school-age Jaguars were at the February 1 camps. The Cougars head coach, Heather Pennie-Roy, is a Villard high school graduate who pitched for the Waska Warriors, which was a pairing of students from Villard and Glenwood high schools. That pairing was joined with Starbuck school in 1991 to form what we know today as Minnewaska Area. In 9th and 10th grade, she pitched for the Osakis-Villard softball team after the program was founded in 1986. With her Villard high school diploma, Pennie-Roy headed west to UMM and had a record-making four-year career with the Cougars team. Her name still appears on the UMM school records. To this day, she holds the lowest ERA record (2.97) during her career from 1991-1994. She also ranks second for lowest batting average allowed (.272) in a career. Her career total of 298 innings pitched stood as the UMM record until 2009. There's your history lesson for the day!

It has been 37 years since the B-B-E Jaguars won a fastpitch softball conference title. The only team to earn such a feat was the very first Jaguar team, the 1989 squad, which was coached by head coach Jerry Lindstrom and assistant coach Bud Heidgerken. While I can't predict the future, getting my daughter experience that improves her pitching skills is our small part in the program's quest to earn conference and playoff hardware. The last playoff hardware was earned a full 18 years ago in 2008.

My daughter was excited to be joined in Morris today by her Bible Camp friend from New London-Spicer, whose mom is Krista (Lundgren) Lautenschlager. Their family has a farm in Colfax Township, and Krista was a 2005 graduate of B-B-E high school.

It took over an hour of being here before I recalled the main thing my daughter learned at the UMM pitching camp a year ago (March 2) where she was told "Squish a bug" during her hitting steps.

In volleyball news...
I haven't had a chance to catch up to this until now, and I still don't have time to give it proper writing...last week I learned that head volleyball coach Brittany Borgerding, a 2013 B-B-E graduate, has resigned her position. Also stepping away from the program is C-squad coach Branton Jones, a 2023 graduate. The Borgerding resignation was family-related, and Jones resigned in order to further his post-graduate education. Even in their "retirement" from the coaching staff, we wish them all the best and hold them both in our prayers.

In wrestling news...
Congratulations to B-B-E sophomore Elizabeth Rademacher, who is advancing to the girls' state wrestling tournament after she won the 130-pound Section 5A championship on Saturday at St. Michael-Albertville high school. In the championship match, Rademacher won by fall (2:41) against Morgan Mielke of St. Michael-Albertville. It's worth noting that in girls' wrestling, the playoffs are in a one-class format.

And in other news...
The Brooten city council meets in regular session on Monday night, February 9. (As does the school board.) The Brooten council agenda is posted at the Bonanza Valley Voice editor's blog: BrootenCouncilAgenda.

A great deal of Valentine's Day related advertising was in last week's newspaper, and more is coming in this week's issue. Here's the Brink's Beer Joint special for Saturday in Swift Falls: Brink's Valentines Special, including 8 oz. lobster tail $31.99 served with would rice and green beans; Prime Rib Queen $25.99 and Prime Rib King $28.99, both served with choice of potato and green beans or salad.

And yet more business news...this is breaking news as of today! Today, it was announced by local business owner Ashley Zimmerle that Earthy Elements, LLC, her local flower, plant and rock shop, is moving from Brooten to the Boosters building on the north end of Main Street Belgrade. Boosters owner Becky Mueller has space available for Ashley, and I believe it is going to be a truly tremendous partnership!

Basketball teams sweep Browerville

The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team shook off a tough three-game losing streak with a very satisfying 45-41 win at Browerville today. A late steal in the closing seconds by Hudson Reed iced the win. The girls' basketball team also recorded a win over Browerville's varsity squad; the final score was 65-34.

It's time to head to the Belgrade VFW Auxiliary steak and pork chop fry and then the open gym session at the high school.

In the boys' basketball game, the Jaguars were led by Taylor Pieper's 11 points. Next were Aiden Radermacher and Owen Roering, who had 9 points each. Free throw shooting proved to loom large in the outcome: Browerville was 1-for-3 in the game, while the Jaguars made 5 out of 9 shots at the charity stripe. The win raises their record to 9-10 overall; next is a home game on Tuesday against Eden Valley-Watkins.

In the Section 2A hockey playoffs today, the River Lakes Stars girls' hockey team suffered a 4-1 loss to Minnesota River at the Le Seuer Ice Arena. They finish the season 14-11-1 overall. Minnesota River (21-5-1) advances to the 2A finals to face top-seeded Mankato East. The Cougars (23-2-1) erased Hutchinson from the playoffs with a 5-1 win in the other semifinal game held today.

And now it's Sunday afternoon...the last 24 hours were a blur. I'll get a new blog post up with some notes from the Browerville games.

Clutch performance by Jaguars in final minutes brings epic come-from-behind win (VIDEOS)

Inside 8 minutes to go, shots were not dropping as a cold shooting spell was plaguing the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team in a battle of two of the three contenders for the Central Minnesota Conference title. With Royalton in town, it was all-out war that was tipping in favor of the Royals, who led 47-38 with 7:40 to go. A 7-0 scoring run followed that put them back in the game, and the Jaguars utilized lights-out defense and tenacious rebounding that limited Royalton to just 6 points in the last 5 minutes of the game.

FINAL: B-B-E 56, Royalton 53. The Jaguars are 15-5 overall and 10-1 in the CMC; the Royals (13-7 overall) are 9-2 and one game out of first place as their red hot 9-game winning streak crashed to an end.

In the first half...
The Royals took a 24-22 lead with 2:09 to go on a three-point play by Chloe Reedy. With 1:22 left, Teagan Dingmann knocked down a corner three-pointer for a 25-24 lead. Haylie Wolbeck banked an outside shot with around 20 seconds left that gave Royalton a 26-25 halftime lead.

Here's a video featuring action in the last minute before halftime:


At halftime, Teagan Dingmann led the Jaguars with 12 points. Reedy was the top scorer for Royalton at the break with 18 points.

Here's a video featuring the game turning in favor of B-B-E:


The video begins with the Jaguars bringing the ball into play from the sideline with just over 80 seconds to go. The Royals led 53-49 at that point. With 1:16 left, Kacey Fischer drained two free throws for a 53-51 deficit. With 33 seconds left, Tiffany Dingmann cashed a three-pointer on the left wing for the final lead change of the night. In the video, her three-pointer comes at about the 1:14 mark.

Holdingford has moved into fourth place alone in the CMC with a giant 51-44 upset win at Kimball tonight. This pulls the Cubs out of first place as they fall to 8-2 in the CMC.

For the game, the Jaguars shot 32 percent on field goals while Teagan Dingmann led the scoring with 20 points. Kacey Fischer had a career night with 15 points and 17 rebounds, including 10 defensive boards that were crucial in the comeback win. Also key to the win was fine 7-of-9 free throw shooting in the second half. Kacey Fischer was 9-of-13 at the line for the game. Mya Worms also had a terrific game with 8 points and 7 rebounds.

On Saturday...
The Pirouettes will compete at the Section 2A dance championships at New London-Spicer high school. The National Anthem will be performed at 10:55 a.m., and the competition begins at 11 a.m. For admission, you have to purchase tickets in advance online: https://www.gobound.com/mn/mshl/regions/5a/tickets.

Central MN Conference girls' basketball scores on February 6:
Maple Lake 54, Eden Valley-Watkins 48
Holdingford 51, Kimball Area 44
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 48, Paynesville 41

First place on the line tonight

The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team is hosting Royalton tonight. The JV and C-squad games are set to begin at 5:30 p.m.

The JV team defeated the Royals 43-28, and the C-squad also recorded a double-digit win.

**With 7:22 left in the first half, the game is tied 12-all.

HALFTIME: Royalton 26, B-B-E 25. The Royals scored a go-ahead basket in the final 30 seconds, and they missed a buzzer-beating attempt to give us the one-point game at the break. Earlier in the half, the Jaguars trailed 17-13 with 5:40 left on a Chloe Reedy layup.

UPDATE: with 10:18 left in the game, the Royals have a 40-33 lead.

MORE TO COME in a new blog post. Hit refresh!

Conference leaders finish sweep of the Jaguars, Stars advance in 2A playoffs

The Paynesville Area Bulldogs remained undefeated in the Central Minnesota Conference with a 75-50 win tonight over our B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team. The Bulldogs (11-8, 9-0) held a 43-25 lead at halftime after canning seven three-pointers by the break. They've now won 6 straight games.

The Jaguars fall to 8-10 overall and 4-5 in the CMC for fifth place alone; they have a huge game on Saturday at Browerville (varsity at about 3:30 p.m.). The Tigers are currently 7-9 overall and ranked No. 4 in Sub-Section 5A-West.

Here's a video featuring the Pep Band performing plus the player introductions:


Some light game statistics:
The Bulldogs had 7 made threes in the first half out of 13 attempts. They shot 47 percent on field goals for the game and went 10-of-24 on three-pointers. Austin Berge led the Jaguars with 14 points plus 4 rebounds and 3 assists. The Stars, now 14-10-1 overall, scored one goal in each period.

In the CMC, the Jaguars likely will have to win out to take third place. The current team in third place, Eden Valley-Watkins, will likely finish the season with an 8-6 CMC record. This means that the Jaguars have to beat EV-W next Tuesday (February 10) at home in order to have a shot at taking third place.

More to come. No word yet on the River Lakes girls' hockey team, who hosted a Section 2A quarterfinal game tonight in Richmond.

In girls' hockey playoff news...
The River Lakes Stars girls' hockey team is advancing to the Final Four of the Section 2A tournament. The Stars defeated neighboring Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato tonight 3-1 in the quarterfinal round. B-B-E sophomore goalie Lillian Thompson faced 15 shots on goal and had 14 saves.

Central MN Conference boys' basketball scores on February 5:
Maple Lake 60, Kimball Area 57
Holdingford 78, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 42
Eden Valley-Watkins 75, Royalton 60

Area boys' basketball scores on February 5:
Minnewaska Area 68, Perham 56
Upsala 60, Parkers Prairie 54
Melrose 69, BOLD 42
Lac qui Parle Valley 70, Lakeview 56
Albany 80, Foley 41
Underwood 72, Ashby 41
Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 95, Rothsay 70
Breckenridge 81, Norman County East/Ulen-Hitterdal 62

GAME NIGHT! Border Battle and Pep Band in the house!

No time to rest...

The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team is hosting Paynesville Area tonight in a border battle and their second straight contest facing the Bulldogs. The two teams met on Monday night in Paynesville, and the Bulldogs overcame a 24-23 halftime deficit to win 60-50 and stay on top of the Central Minnesota Conference.

I have to get my electronics and my trumpet over to the school now...the B-B-E Pep Band begins performing at 6:30 p.m.! Also! The game is being aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood. Brady's coverage is also streamed at their website: https://www.kmgk1071.com.

Here's a video with Aiden Mueller winning one week ago tonight against A-C-GC:


The wrestling team will be back in action tomorrow night in a triangular at Holdingford.

HALFTIME: Paynesville Area 43, B-B-E 25. The Bulldogs used 7 threes to pull away from the Jaguars late in the half.

One-point lead at halftime

The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team holds a 24-23 lead at halftime tonight in a Central Minnesota Conference game at Paynesville. Update: with 90 seconds left in the game, the Bulldogs have a 57-47 lead.

Final score: Paynesville Area 60, B-B-E 50. The Jaguars turned in a giant effort, but they were one-and-done too many times in the latter part of the second half to maintain pace with the home team, who entered the contest averaging 70 points per game. The Bulldogs made numerous well-guarded shots both in the paint and beyond the arc.

The Bulldogs (9-8, 7-0) remain in a tie for first place with Holdingford, while the Jaguars slip below .500 to 8-9 overall (4-4 in the CMC for 5th place). Holdingford, winners of 8 in a row, is currently 13-3 overall and 7-0 in the CMC.

This blog will not be updated again until Wednesday, February 4 after the newspaper is printed in Lowry.

Area boys' basketball scores on February 2:
Benson 74, Swanville 55
Breckenridge 64, West Central Area 55
Melrose Area 61, Minnewaska Area 50
Upsala 81, Kimball Area 60
Osakis 81, Royalton 64
Underwood 82, Ashby 59

Girls' hockey edges Otters, earn No. 3 playoff seed

At Richmond this past Thursday night, the River Lakes Stars girls' hockey team defeated Fergus Falls 5-4 to improve to 13-10-1 overall as the regular season concludes. The win also avenges their tough 4-3 loss at Fergus Falls on December 16.

River Lakes has won 6 of their last 8 contests, and they finish the Central Lakes Conference schedule in fourth place with a 6-5 record.

In the seven-team Section 2A, the Stars hover in the middle of the pack. Mankato East (22-2-1) is the probable No. 1 seed. Whoever nabs the top seed will earn a quarterfinal-round bye.

Update: the Stars have earned the No. 3 seed in Section 2A. They host a playoff game on Thursday, February 5 at 7 p.m. in Richmond. More to follow.

Coming on Monday...
The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team hopes to take a bite out of the Bulldogs on Monday night when they travel to Paynesville Area for a Central Minnesota Conference game. The varsity game should begin at about 7 p.m.

As it stands, we have a rare Tuesday this week where we have no varsity activities.