Arika Howard gets her shot off over the arms of the Saint’s defender.

The third time was not the charm for the Blue Earth Area girl’s basketball team as the host St. Peter Saints defeated the Bucs for the third time this season. The 60-43 season-ending loss knocked BEA out of the Section 2AA Sub-section playoffs.

It was rough from the beginning for the Bucs as they fell behind the Saints 7-0 and did not put a point on the board until five minutes and 30 seconds had run off the game clock.

The one redeeming thing for BEA was the Saints were also struggling early in the game. So, when Arika Howard hit a jumper from the left baseline, the Maroon and Gold only trailed St. Peter by three points at 7-4.

Two baskets by the Saint’s Sarah Conlon, one a three-pointer, quickly gave the home town team a 12-4 edge over the Bucs.

An 8-2 run by St. Peter was finally stopped by Caitlin Rorman’s first bucket of the night with 3:08 to go in the first half.

Conlon, who led all players with 30 points, nailed another 3-pointer to keep the Saints on the march while guiding them to a 30-15 lead at the half.

Howard’s three-pointer from the corner followed by a traditional 3-point play by Hannah Johnson, brought the Bucs to within 11 points of the Saints at 38-27 with 11:57 left in the game. It was as close as BEA would come for the remainder of the game.

St. Peter made 44.2 percent of their field goal attempts during the game compared to 34.9 percent for the Bucs. The Saints made 16 of 21 shots from the charity stripe while BEA connected on 10 of 15 tries.

Rorman led the Bucs with 18 points while grabbing five rebounds. Johnson tallied 11 points and Howard added eight points and six rebounds.

It was the last game of their high school careers for six senior members of the Buccaneers. Those players were Sidney Blair, who did not play because of injury, Callie Stevermer, Gabby Weerts, Rorman, Johnson and Alyssa Ripley.

BEA ended the season with a 13-11 record overall and a 4-6 record in the Big South Conference.