The latest chapter came on Thursday at the state level. The day just happened to be St. Urho's Day. No reverence needed for that, maybe just a chuckle. Or, maybe some reverence if you're of Finnish descent!
The Jaguars marked the occasion by winning with relative ease over the Rockets of Underwood. BBE got the fifth seed for state. They prevailed over those Rockets 60-44. We can look at the Underwood turnover total of 22 and deduce that the Jags must have played with an aggressive air. BBE put up 13 more shots than the Rockets.
The game site was Maturi Pavilion. BBE was not dominant from the outset. Underwood was able to grasp the lead at 22-16 with about six minutes left in the first half. At that point, BBE bore down and seemed to say "enough of that!" BBE went on a 15-3 run! So at halftime the Jags were in good position, up 31-25, en route to their Class A quarter-final win.
Mo Bugbee of the Rockets became hindered with fouls: three in the first half. Her playing time got cut down as a result. The Rockets scored first in the second half. This brought them to within four, but that would be their high water mark. The Jags pushed their lead up to ten at 43-33. It got better for them: a score of 51-36. Fans could relax? Well, it got to where both coaches sent in their reserve players.
BBE played a capable defense against Rocket of note Liz Lukken. Even so, this Rocket put in 16 points on 7 of 14 shooting. Bugbee scored nine points and collected seven rebounds for Underwood. Then we see Mia Blaskowski with 8 points/7 rebounds.
Lukken was quoted post-game saying "it was a very physical game from both sides."
Let's look at the BBE standouts. Abby Berge led the scoring charge with 18 points. She was poised at the freethrow line with 10 of 13 numbers. Brooklyn Fischer made a statement with her 14 points. Continuing with the scoring list: Allison Dingmann 9, Tiyana Schwinghammer 7, Adley Hagen 5, Bree Thieschafer 3, Ella Halverson 2 and Anna Jaeger 2.
Underwood actually had a superior shooting percentage: 36.4 percent compared to BBE's 32.1. BBE made 18 of 56 shots. But let's look beyond these numbers: BBE was sizzling at the freethrow line: 20 of 29. BBE also capitalized big time on Underwood's turnover woes. We can document with numbers: 20 points on Underwood's 22 turnovers.
The Fergus Falls Daily Journal article further tells us that "second chance points were 12-2 in favor of BBE and they also had eleven fast-break points to none by Underwood."
So the Jaguars are steaming forward in prime form, now with a won-lost of 26-4.
A lump of coal, Santa
The Willmar newspaper is being an ass this morning by having their coverage behind a paywall. Leave it to that cold-as-ice outfit, owned of course by Forum Communications. So if a player's grandma from some other part of the state wants to call up some coverage, they are met by this terse message on the screen that you'll have to pay.
BBE made 4 of 14 from 3-point range.
Berge was in her fifth state tournament game, and let's note that in her first she scored 18 points, same total as what she had Thursday! Thanks to Randy Olson for that bit of trivia.
Olson is the Bonanza Valley newspaper guy but he is much more than that: he harnesses the electronic media in an exemplary way. Sometimes newspaper people have reservations about doing that sort of thing. Not Randy, who sees all of media as facilitating his legacy media work. If only our newspaper here in Morris could show such an open and enlightened attitude. No, the Morris-based newspaper is Neanderthal. Put some pressure on them please. My natural incentive would be just like Randy's.
BBE advanced to play Mountain Iron-Buhl, the top seed. But I don't think the seeds really mean that much. Mountain Iron-Buhl is called the "Rangers." They advanced by beating Minneota 65-50.
The BBE Jaguars have now shattered the school record for most wins in a season. In 2018-19 the program went 24-6.
Let's not overlook depth as a strong suit. Randy tells us that BBE went with an eight-person rotation.
(BBE schools social media image)
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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