Ashley Olson

With the game tied at 43, and eight seconds left on the clock, Buccaneer girls basketball Head Coach Al Cue called time-out to plan a last-second play.

When the game resumed, the Bucs in-bounded the ball at the half court line, passed it to a streaking Ashley Olson who laid it in with four seconds left on the clock.

That sealed the Bucs’ 45-43 come-from-behind victory over the New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva Panthers in the second round of the St. Clair Holiday Tournament.

“You don’t always see a play executed precisely the way you drew it up,” Cue says after the game. “But in this case, the girls did it exactly the way we have practiced it.”

The Buccaneers had to perform another miracle in order to get to the point where they could seal a win. That miracle involved an 18-0 scoring streak in the second half.

Camille Driscoll

Down by 12 at 37-25, the Bucs peeled off 18 unanswered points to take a big 43-37 edge.

The huge run was due to the pestering full-court pressure the Bucs used all game long.

Coach Cue told his team at half time that they would continue the press, and he was sure it would wear down the Panther players. It did.

“I think they (the Panthers) were rattled by our press in the second half,” Cue says. “Plus, our shots finally started to fall in the second half.”

BEA was behind all of the first half and missed several easy shots under the basket.

Kate Hassing

After taking the lead in the second half, with three minutes left in the game, the Bucs ran two minutes off the clock with a display of ball control and passing.

The Panthers, however, managed to score six points in the last 56 seconds to tie the game with 15 seconds left in the game.

Olson was the leading scorer for the Bucs, scoring 11. Kate Hassing put in eight for BEA, Camille Driscoll had seven, and Olivia Skaare and Morgan Dickman each added six.

BEA committed 14 turn overs to NRHEG’s 17. The Bucs had assists to the Panthers’ seven, and seven steals to the Panthers’ six.

The Bucs made 7 of 15 free throw attempts.

Meghan Mittelstadt

The win sent the Buccaneers into the championship game on Wednesday against the Canby Lancers.

BEA 49, USC 34

The Blue Earth Area Buccaneer girls basketball team defeated the Rebels of USC 49-34 in St. Clair on Monday night.

The game was part of the St. Clair Holiday Girls Basketball Tournament. The win propelled the Bucs into the next round, held last Tuesday night, where they faced New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva.

The Bucs led the Rebels 28-17 at the half. USC managed to double their score to 34 in the second half, while the Bucs scored 21 more for their 49 total.

Ashley Olson led the way for BEA, scoring 16 points for the Bucs. Camille Driscoll added 10 points, while Kate Hassing tossed in eight.

Hassing also had eight rebounds for BEA.

As a team, the Bucs were 19 of 46 shooting from the floor, and were 8 of 10 from the free throw line.

The win put BEA’s record at 5-3 for the season.

Val Sahr led the Rebels in scoring with 15 points. Taylor Allis added seven for USC.

The Rebels moved on to play Nicollet on Tuesday, in the consolation bracket. The loss to the Bucs dropped their season record to 3-3.