Defense. Defense. Defense.

The Blue Earth Area girls limited the St. Peter Saints to only 12 second half points, while the Buc girls were pouring in 34 points to pave the way for a 54-31 victory over the visiting Saints.

This was the same Saints team that had defeated Jackson County Central less than a week ago. JCC had beaten the Bucs by a large margin before dropping the game to the Saints.

“I was very happy with our defense in both halves,” says Bucs head coach Al Cue. “We did a good job in allowing 19 points in the first half and only 12 in the second half.”

It wasn’t just the defense putting up some good statistics.

The Bucs’ offense took good care of the ball, committing only six turnovers the whole game and all of those were in the first half.

Ashley Olson got things started for the Bucs as she ripped the nets from behind the arc to give the Bucs a 3-0 lead.

The Saints’ outstanding sophomore guard, AnnMarie Brown, pulled down an offensive rebound and a resulting basket made it 3-2.

The opening half remained close as the teams each took their turn being in the lead. Neither team was able to pull away as the Bucs biggest lead was three points, while the Saints largest margin was two.

A free throw by Jackie Klinkner gave the Bucs a halftime lead of 20-19.

A Saints’ basket to open the second half gave them their last lead of the game. Klinkner hit a three from the left baseline and then moved inside the arc for two more. Olson added another three as the Bucs opened up a 28-21 lead.

The Saints could manage just one basket before the Bucs added nine more points to make the score 37-25.

BEA’s next 11 points would all come on free throws as they made 11 of 12 at the charity stripe, while the Saints tallied their final six points of the night to give the Bucs a 48-31 margin.

Olson led all scorers with 17 points, hitting two ‘threes’ and seven of eight free throws. She was followed by Morgan Dickman with 12 points, Klinkner with nine and Haley Pirsig with seven.

The Bucs made 17 of 28 free throws to the Saints’ five of six.

Rebounds may have been the only negative as far as stats go for the Bucs, being rebounded 31-29.

The Bucs now sit in third place with a 6-4 record in the South Central Conference and improved their season record to 11-9.BEA 48, Maple River 41

Blue Earth Area needed to go into overtime to defeat Maple River 48-41 in non-conference action Feb. 17 in Blue Earth.

The Bucs outscored the Eagles 14-7 in the extra period, connecting on 14 of 16 free throws.

The visitors held a 16-12 lead at the end of the first half, but BEA scored 22 points in the second half and Maple River 18 to require an extra four-minute period to decide the outcome.

Leading the way in scoring for the Bucs was Kate Hassing with 14 points to go along with her 13 rebounds.

Ashley Olson chipped in 13 points and five boards, and Hayley Pirsig added nine points.

Jackie Klinkner pulled down seven rebounds, as the Bucs finished with a 33-27 edge for the game.

BEA had 30 turnovers to Maple River’s 23, and they made 29 of 38 from the free throw line.

The top scorers for the Eagles were Ally Keller with 12, Brandy Springer and Sky Boesch with six points each.

MCW 55, BEA 43

Martin County West jumped out to a 13-point halftime lead and defeated Blue Earth Area Thursday night in Trimont.

The Bucs trailed 28-15 at the end of the first half.

BEA played the Mavericks even after the break, 28-27.

Ashley Olson topped the Bucs with 14 points.

The Mavericks held a 25-16 rebounding edge. Martin County West was 23 of 37 from the floor and 5 of 7 at the free throw line, while the Bucs went 15 of 49 and 7 of 7, respectively.