Ashley Olson

Kate Hassing scored a game high 19 points and pulled down 11 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough. The Blue Earth Area Bucs came up short as they fell to the Le Sueur-Hender-son Giants 44-38 in non-conference action Dec. 4 in Blue Earth.

The Giants never trailed scoring the first two points of the game, on the way to a 19-13 half time lead.

Hassing’s first two points came off an inbounds play and tied the game at two, but the Giants hit a trey to take the lead for good.

It was a cold shooting night for the Bucs – they hit only 13 of 52 attempts from the field for a 25 percent success rate.

However, their defense kept it close through most of the game, as the Giants also found it tough to put the ball in the hoop.

Camille Driscoll

Hassing opened the second half with a bucket to cut the deficit to four points. BEA was unable to close the gap any further, however.

With 10:12 remaining in the game, the Giants went on a 12-5 run that gave them a 13-point lead at 40-27, with under five minutes remaining on the clock.

Morgan Dickman’s basket from behind the arc trimmed the Giants’ lead to 10, as the Bucs picked up their intensity level.

The Giants answered with a basket, before the Bucs reeled off eight straight points to cut the lead to 42-38.

The Bucs defense forced a turnover, with Hassing being fouled. She made both ends of the one-and-one.

Alicia Rorman and Hayley Pirsig both finished off fast breaks with buckets to cut the margin to six points.

Hassing completed the run with an offensive rebound and basket and the Bucs were within four with 1:07 remaining.

BEA had a chance to trim the lead further, but were eventually forced to foul to get the ball back, and LSH held on for the victory.

The Giants out rebounded the Bucs 31-29.

The home team forced 22 turnovers, while committing 14 turnovers of their own.

Blue Earth Area made 10 of 18 free throws while LSH made 4 of 9 free throw attempts.

Dickman added eight points while Rorman had a game high six steals.

The B-squad improved its record to 2-0 with a 50-22 win over the Giants. Annie Hoyt and Krista Hassing each tallied 12 points while Sara Warmka added eight in the victory.