It was raining threes as the Bucs jumped out to an early 12-1 lead on their way to a 61-31 win over the visiting St. James Saints on Jan. 16.

Failing to convert some easy baskets underneath, the Bucs created some open looks from beyond the arc for Morgan Dickman and Ashley Olson.

It was Dickman who connected on the first two 3-pointers. Olson took her turn and sank a pair of her own 3-point baskets to give the Bucs a lead they would not relinquish.

It wasn’t just the offense that was getting the job done.

The Saints, playing without their injured star forward Rachel Eckmann, were finding it tough to score against the Buc defense.

In fact, the Saints did not tally their first field goal until almost eight minutes had run off of the scoreboard clock. Their offensive woes would continue.

With 5:57 to go in the first half, the Buc defense had held the Saints to a total of six points, with four of those coming off of free throws.

Meanwhile, the Bucs were moving the ball and themselves as they got open looks at the basket.

Hayley Pirsig, who would lead all scorers with 15 points, benefitted from some nice passing as her teammates found her open consecutive times down the floor for easy buckets. The Bucs opened up a 21-6 lead.

BEA put a final exclamation on the first half as they ran the clock down for the last shot. The team set up for another 3-pointer by Olson to take a 30-13 lead into the locker room as the first half ended.

There was no letdown in the second half. Dickman started the final 18 minutes with a 3-pointer followed by a Kate Hassing basket.

A free-throw by the Saints was just a temporary interruption as Hassing followed another Dickman basket with a turn-around jumper.

Pirsig went on a scoring rampage as she accounted for the Bucs’ next eight points – leading the Bucs to a 47-16 advantage.

The 31 points the Bucs put up in the second half matched what the Saints were able to score for the entire game – as BEA defeated St. James for the second time this year.The Bucs were 21 of 63 from the floor, and hit 15 of their 28 free-throw attempts.

The Eagles were 18 of 66 from the floor, and 11 of 16 from the free-throw line. Their leading scorer was Sarah Schlieman with 16 points.

The Bucs upped their record to 7-6 overall with the win. They are at 5-2 in the South Central Conference.

Next up for BEA will be a home game Tuesday against Lake Crystal.-Welcome Memorial They will travel to Fairmont on Friday for a doubleheader game.