Of course, we are supposed to be noticing signs of spring for March Madness, right? Ah, that part of the script is missing. As I sit here and write this Sunday afternoon, a look out my picture windows facing north spells "winter." I might add "hellish winter." But the show will go on for state girls basketball. The bright lights of the state venues will be on for later this week.
BBE has its initial state assignment on Thursday, March 16. They'll take to the court at 1 p.m. The venue: Maturi Pavilion. Their foe will be Underwood, those Rockets who come out of 6A.
The Jags rolled past all their foes in post-season play thus far. Just take a look: 80-30 over Bertha-Hewitt, 70-44 over Pine River-Backus, 65-26 over Walker-Hackensack-Akeley, and 76-50 over Barnum.
The section championship game versus Barnum was played Friday at St. John's University. Satisfying yes, but the Jags have not been tested with crunch-time pressure. Can anyone challenge them? We'll see.
Certainly this is a frenetic and happy time for my old newspaper compatriot Randy Olson. I know full well all he is dealing with. Forget about the weather, Randy, the Jaguars can occupy your thoughts. Randy is the prime example of a community newspaper person who goes the extra mile using the new electronic media to complement his standard work. In this respect he is the polar opposite of what we have seen from our Morris-based newspaper. I don't intend this as a dig, it's just fact.
Randy has been blazing a new trail with his work. He indicates to me that all the new resources are just making his legacy business perform better. Congrats Randy!
Thanks to "Yahoo News" for duplicating the coverage of the Barnum game that was presented by the West Central Tribune. You never know when the WC Trib will have its infernal "paywall" up.
We learn that the Jaguars have a QRF power rating of "number four." I don't know what that means.
Hancock was last year's Class A state champion. The Owls are eliminated from the field for 2023. They lost to Underwood 64-50.
Barnum has the "Bombers" nickname. The Jags came at them with a two-pronged approach of pressure 'D' and an up-tempo style. Barnum succumbed. The halftime score had the Jags in control, up 42-23.
State play is a familiar environment for BBE. They were state runner-up in 2021. They played in the abbreviated state tournament of 2020, abbreviated due to - remember? - covid.
Let's roll up our sleeves for a stat review of the BBE vs. Barnum game. Three big guns for the Jaguars: Brooklyn Fischer with 22 points, Abby Berge with 19 and Tiyana Schwinghammer with 18. Then we see Bree Thieschafer with eight, Adley Hagen with six and Anna Jaeger with three. Fischer and Schwinghammer each made two 3-pointers, and Jaeger made one.
Berge topped the rebounding with eleven - Schwinghammer had nine. Berge and Schwinghammer each had three assists. Thieschafer picked up five steals. Berge blocked a shot.
Barnum's top scorer was Rayna Klejeski, 18 points. Jacinda Wright made two 3-pointers. Klejeski complemented her point total with eight rebounds. Ella Heaton had two steals.
Update: BBE has earned a seed for the state tournament. They have the No. 5 seed. Underwood won 6A by escaping a halftime deficit vs. Hancock. Hancock led the Rockets 33-27 at halftime. Liz Lukken of Underwood was game-high scorer with her 24 points. She's a junior guard. The Rockets own a 26-3 record and are on a roll with a win skein of 17. On paper they appear quite similar to the Jaguars.
We were thrilled by BBE volleyball last fall! It was a pleasure for yours truly to supply some coverage, and I'm pleased to again be a part. My journalistic career is not past tense, as Randy Olson will attest.
They're tops in Section 5A, the BBE Jaguars of GBB! Next: state. (twitter images)
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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