Tonight we get the pleasure of listening to a pair of Holiday classics. The first story of the night is the timeless telling of the Christmas fantasy story of The Nutcracker.  The second story is one of a dying child's dreams and hopes on the final night of the year. It is Hans Christian Anderson's poignant story "The Little Match Girl".

In the third episode of the 8 Nights of Christmas, children can enjoy listening to the re-telling of the classic 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer".  Then, sit back and enjoy "Christmas at Red Butte" by Lucy Maud Montgomery. This charming short story takes us to the frozen prairies of Canada in the 1800's and a young orphan girl's unselfish Christmas gift to her cousins.  

Tonight's episode features a pair of stories for the kiddies with some familiar characters, Curious George and Corduroy the Bear.  Then it's O. Henry's classic "The Gift of the Magi".  Enjoy....

The Pioneers get a career-high 23 points from Lyndsey Strohmeier to defeat the Wolves 61-56 in the Granite Ridge Conference opener for both teams.  Pierz improves to 5-0 with the victory.

I hope you enjoy a reading of Selma Lagerlof's "The Holy Night" to begin the 8 Nights of Christmas Readings with Rick.  The author recalls sitting with her Grandmother and listening to her tell stories.  After the Grandmother's passing, many years later the author fondly recalls a special story that retells the birth of the Christ child.

The Pioneers pass another road test with flying colors as they travel to Pine City and defeat a good Dragons team 59-48 to improve to 4-0, with 3 of those victories coming on the road  Kiara Olesch nearly had a triple-double with 12 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists. Lyndsey Strohmeier scored all 11 of her points in the 2nd half and Alyssa Sadlovsky had her best all-around game with 10 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals. 

The Pioneers improved to 3-0 with a dominating 74-30 win over the Cardinals.  11 different players were able to score and all 17 players got into the game.  Kiara Olesch and Katie Leidenfrost led the way with 13 points each and Britney Schommer had her first career double figure game with 10 points.

The Pioneers send two Individuals to Championship matches as Chase Becker(138) and Trevor Radunz go after Titles and Derek Stangl (138), Jacob LeBlanc (152) and Daniel Hoffman (220) battle through Consolation rounds and Placing matches.

The Pioneers get their season underway by sending Derek Stangl (132), Chase Becker (138), Trevor Radunz (145), Jacob LeBlanc (152), Frank Tomberlin (160), Derrick Przybilla (170) and Daniel Hoffman (220) to the Hornet Individual Invitational.

The Pioneers improved to 2-0 with a 55-50 victory over the Bulldogs as Zach Jones scored a career-high 20 to lead Pierz, while Noah Oberfeld finished with 12 and Kirby Fischer had 11 to lead the offense.  Gene Skiba also had a major impact with 8 points and 16 rebounds.  Lucas Miller led Swanville with a 20 point game.