Reegan Howard, a junior forward for the Blue Earth Area Buccaneers, prepares to release a three-pointer during one of the maroon and gold’s wins at the BEA?Holiday Tournament, which preceded the Bucs’ stretch of road games this week. Howard landed BEA’s lone trey against St. Peter on Tuesday before dishing out more points in a win over Saint James.

When the Blue Earth Area girls head to Martin County West on Jan. 10 for their second-to-last away game of the month, they might have a little extra pep in their step.

At the very least, as head coach Al Cue’s basketball team indicated Thursday night in the Saint James Area gym, they will have their biggest win of 2016-17 off of which to build.

After falling to St. Peter earlier in the week despite a strong defensive showing against the high-scoring Saints, the BEA girls hit the road once again Thursday night. This time, though, things swung in their favor and swung dramatically.

Racking up the points with their young lineup, which has gotten contributions from throughout the starting five and deep into the bench this year, the Bucs ran away with their Saint James showdown, discarding of the Saints, 72-20, and easily topping their season-high single-game points total.

Saint James Area entered Thursday’s contest having surrendered at least 65 points in its previous two games, so the maroon and gold anticipated an opportunity to light up the scoreboard. But their 72 points was by far a season best, eclipsing their previous high 59 against Maple River on Dec. 22 by double digits.

Snapping a two-game losing streak in the process, the Buccaneers improved to 5-6 on the year with the big win over Saint?James Area. They will attempt to forge their second winning streak of the season on Jan. 10, when Martin County West plays host to a 7:30 p.m. matchup that Tuesday.

After squaring off with MCW, the Buc girls are slated to kick off a string of four straight games at BEA High School.

First up, on Jan. 13 at 7:30 p.m., is a game against Section 2AAA’s New Ulm, which defeated the maroon and gold 73-48 early in the season.

On Jan. 14, 17 and 20, respectively, the Bucs will then take on Medford, Waterville-Elysian-Morristown (WEM) and Fairmont, the latter of which topped BEA by one point in a Dec. 9 doubleheader.

Medford currently sits at 3-5 on the season.

St. Peter 52, BEA 38

The Buccaneer girls played tight defense Tuesday night, slowing a St. Peter team that scored at least 74 points in three of its first four games, but the maroon and gold could not muster enough offense themselves, falling 52-38 on the road.

“Defensively, we played them very well,” said Blue Earth Area head coach Al Cue. “We held them more than 20 points under their scoring average. Unfortunately, we really struggled on the offensive end. Too many turnovers and poor shot selection at times really hurt us.”

Only eight of the Bucs’ 26 first-half shots made it through the basket, and not a single BEA player had more than four points entering the second half of play.

Sophomore Caitlin Rorman still finished with 14 to lead the Buc girls, and eight others had buckets before the end of the game. But 19 points total in each half was simply not enough to keep up with St. Peter.

Defensively, things tipped a little more in BEA’s favor, as the maroon and gold out-rebounded the Saints, especially on “D,” and the Buccaneers also forced six steals throughout the evening. Five of the team’s rebounds came courtesy of senior guard Samantha Barslou, who left the BEA Holiday Basketball Tournament with an injury but returned to the lineup against the Saints.

Junior forward Reegan Howard was responsible for the Bucs’ lone three-pointer of the night, while Brittany Johnson, Ryanne Klabunde, Sofie and Sidney Blair, and Alissa and Lindsey Norman also scored Tuesday.