Bucs trump Eagles, 53-31
The Buccaneer girls claimed a 20-point victory over the New Ulm Eagles last Friday, Jan. 16, but unfortunately that momentum fell flat when they were pitted against the New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva Panthers.
Blue Earth Area girls basketball team traveled to New Richland on Tuesday, Jan. 20. The Bucs went into the game with 9-4 record. Unfortunately their loss changed that to a nine win and five loss total for the season.
The Panthers, who were at a 6-7 record coming into the matchup against the maroon and gold, snagged the win with a score of 45-32.
The non-conference loss for the Bucs put the Panthers at an even 7-7 season record.
The Bucs started out with a little better scoring than the Panthers and if the game was judged by the start of the first half, it would have seemed that the Bucs would have had a win.
But, the Panthers powered ahead through the rest of the first half, putting the score to 24-12.
The girls continued to push toward the basket, but it seemed the Panthers were fighting back both offensively and defensively.
The Bucs finished the game with a total of 28 rebounds. However, that wasn’t enough to compete with NRHEG who racked up 45 rebounds for their team.
The Buccaneers dusted themselves off after only their fourth loss of the season and hosted Fairmont on Friday night.
The game was played after the Faribault County Register and details will be featured in the next issue.
The girls will play again on Tuesday, Jan. 27, when they travel to Le Sueur-Henderson to take on the Giants in another non-conference game.
BEA 53,
New Ulm 31
After a loss last week, the Buccaneers came back with a vengeance in their match against New Ulm last Friday, Jan. 16.
The Bucs racked up 53 points leaving a 22 point gap between them and the opposing Eagles.
“I was proud of the girls for bouncing back from a poor game against Waterville-Elysian-Morristown and playing so well in this one,” BEA coach Al Cue said.
The Bucs were strong in every area of play in their face off against the Eagles. They tallied a total of 30 rebounds, 16 assists and four steals.
“Defensively, we made things very tough for New Ulm,”?Cue added. “They didn’t get many open, easy shots.”
BEA made 15 of 33 2-point field goals, 4 of 8 from behind the arc and 11 of 18 free throws.
“Offensively, we were patient and waited for good shots and we made them,”?the coach said.
Paige Darrington had a very successful night on the court, offensively and defensively. She scored 11 of the 53 points in the form of 4 of 7 2-pointers and 5 of 3 free-throw shots.
Darrington led the Bucs when it came to rebounding with a total of 17 of the team’s 30. She also had one steal and five assists.
Karli Olsen was another top scorer for BEA. She accounted for 15 points, scoring six 2-pointers and 3 of 4 shots from the foul line.
Olsen also had six rebounds, on steal and one assist with just five turnovers for the whole game.
Taylor Grandgennett also aided the Bucs toward their win by bringing in 8 points. She scored 4 of 6 free-throws and 2 of 5 2-point shots.
She also led the team with six assists and had one rebound and one steal.
Other scorers for BEA?included; Kaitlyn Olsen with six, Caitlyn Rorman with six and Sam Barslou with a 3-pointer.
“The girls played very, very well in this game,” Cue said. “We were sharp on both ends of the floor.”
Their win against New Ulm put the Bucs’ conference record to an even 3-3 and their overall record to 9-4.