The BEA Buccaneers girls basketball team has been guided by coach Al Cue for the past 11 seasons. Front row left to right: Kaitlin Johnson, Lauren Schavey, Cali Beyer, Téa Armstrong, McKenna Dutton, Arika Howard. Second row left to right: Hannah Johnson, Sidney Blair, Caitlin Rorman, Alyssa Ripley, Callie Stevermer, Gabby Weerts. Not pictured: Kiera Osmundson

Al Cue begins his 12th year at the helm of the Blue Earth Area girls basketball team knowing he has a consistant, proven scorer out on the floor.

Caitlin Rorman is a three-time Big South Conference All-Conference selection.

Rorman comes into this season as the third leading scorer in BEA history. She trails Shannon and Sara Schonrock, who hold the top two spots on the list.

Spectators who have observed Rorman know she can score in many different ways. She can shoot the three, post up and is also adept at running the fast break.

“She is a lot quicker than people realize,” coach Cue notes.

This year’s team looks to replace four girls who graduated last year. Lindsey Norman, Sofie Blair, Grace Mensing and Reegan Howard were four players who ate up a lot of minutes on the court.

“We will need other girls to step up and fill the roles of the girls who graduated,” Cue states.

Seniors Callie Stevermer, Hannah Johnson, Alyssa Ripley along with sophomore Ta Armstrong are the four girls who bring the most experience in seeking to occupy the positions vacated by the graduates.

“Our numbers are down drastically this year,” Cue adds. “We made the decision to drop our eighth grade team this year in order to fill out our B-squad and C-squad.”

There are only 18 girls out for basketball in the top four grades.

The numbers may be down but Cue expects his team to be competitive.

“We have girls who work hard and they have demonstrated that during our opening weeks of practice,” Cue comments.

The girls rounding out the squad are comprised of two seniors, two juniors and four sophomores.

Senior guard Gabby Weerts will be looking to expand her role with the team in her final year of competition.

The other senior on the team is Sidney Blair. Blair is currently recovering from her second knee injury.

“Sid is practicing on a limited basis at this time,” Cue explains. “Doctor appointments in December will determine a timeline for when or if she can start participating completely.”

The juniors, guard Kiera Osmundson and forward Kaitlin Johnson, will probably see significant minutes as the season progresses.

Sophomores Arika Howard, Lauren Schavey, Cali Beyer and McKenna Dutton fill the remaining roster spots on the varsity. Howard is a guard while Schavey, Beyer and Dutton all play the forward position.

Travis Armstrong and Luke Beyer are the assistant coaches. Armstrong coaches the B-squad while Beyer is in charge of the C-squad.

Cue looks for Waseca, New Ulm and St. Peter to be the teams to beat in the Big South Conference East Division.

He also notes that the Buccaneers will face tough competition in their own sub-section. Waterville-Elysian-Morristown, Medford along with conference rival St. Peter look to be the teams to beat.

The girls opened their season on the road against I-90 rival Fairmont on Friday, Nov. 30.

They will return to the friendly confines of their home gym on Monday, Dec. 3, to face Lake ?Crystal-Wellcome Memorial.

This Thursday, Dec 6, they board the bus to travel to New Ulm to take on the Eagles.

“I am really looking forward to this season,” Cue mentions. “This is a great bunch of girls who aren’t afraid to work hard. We will be a well-tested team by tournament time.”

Results of the opening week of contests will be in next week’s edition of the Faribault County Register.