Sophie Keister (25), above left, led Blue Earth Area with 19 points in their 66-35 win over United South Central. Taylor Schroeder, above right, was the leading scorer for the Rebels with 15 points.

The Blue Earth Area Buccaneers girls’ basketball team picked up their first win of the young basketball season with a 66-35 victory over the United South Central Rebels in Blue Earth on Tuesday night, Dec. 13.

The Rebels got on the board first with a free throw by Taylor Schroeder before the Bucs’ Lola Lundquist made one of two free throw attempts to tie the game 1-1.

A steal and subsequent layup by BEA’s Kate Armon gave the home team the lead for good at 3-1.

After a free throw by Chloe Groe increased BEA’s advantage to 4-1, the home team alternated scoring inside and outside to extend their margin over the Rebels to 14-5. Erika Gaydon did the damage from behind the arc by sinking two treys while Sophie Keister’s work underneath the basket resulted in four more points.

After USC’s Schroeder scored off of an offensive rebound to cut BEA’s lead to 14-7, Lundquist drove hard to the basket for a layup to give the Bucs a 16-7 lead and bring USC coach Taylor Overbo off the bench to call a timeout.

The Bucs continued to build their lead and by the time the buzzer sounded to end the first half, BEA was on top 36-18.

The Bucs continued to pull away from the Rebels in the second half. Back-to-back three-pointers by Gaydon and Armon had the Bucs on top 51-25 with over 10 minutes left to play.

When the horn sounded to end the game, the Bucs had pocketed a 66-35 victory.

“We shot the ball tonight and our shot selection was good,” BEA head coach Chris Voss said after the game. “We did a good job of getting the ball inside to Sophie (Keister).”

BEA was led in scoring by Keister who had eight field goals and three free throws to finish with 19 points. Armon sank two three-pointers on her way to tallying 16 points for the Bucs.

Also scoring in double figures for the home team was Lundquist, who finished with 13 points. Gaydon finished the game with nine points, all three-pointers.

Schroeder led the Rebels’ offense with 15 points.

BEA shot over 50 percent from two-point range, making 18 of 35 shots from inside the arc. The Bucs attempted 28 shots from behind the arc and made five.

The Rebels were 11 of 38 from two-point range and two of 14 on shots taken from behind the arc.

The Bucs went to the free-throw line 22 times and made 15 shots while the Rebels were seven of 13 from the charity stripe.

BEA held the edge in rebounding with 43 total rebounds to 37 for USC. The Bucs also pocketed 14 steals to nine for the Rebels.

There were a total of 52 turnovers in the game. Twenty were by BEA and 32 were by USC.

The Bucs traveled to Fairmont on Friday, Dec. 16, to take on the Fairmont Cardinals while the Rebels are off until Dec. 29, when they return to Blue Earth to compete in the BEA annual holiday tournament.

GSL 57, BEA 33

The Blue Earth Area Buccaneers girls’ basketball team faced the Glencoe-Silver Lake Panthers in the first round of a tournament hosted by the Maple River Eagles on Dec. 9.

The Panthers took a 26-17 halftime lead over the Bucs on their way to a 57-33 victory.

BEA made 11 of their 34 field goal attempts from two-point range while making three of their 10 shots from behind the arc. The Bucs went to the free throw line eight times and made two shots.

GSL outrebounded BEA by a 42-32 margin and had 13 steals to nine for the Bucs. The Maroon and Gold ended the game with 25 turnovers to 13 for the Panthers.

Lola Lundquist led the Bucs with 13 points while Kate Armon chipped in eight.

Winona Cotter 63,

BEA 43

In the second round of the Maple River Tournament, the Blue Earth Area Bucs faced the Winona Cotter Ramblers.

The Bucs trailed the Ramblers by eight points at the half, 27-19. BEA was unable to overtake their foe in the second half and Winona Cotter triumphed by a score of 63-43.

The leading scorer for the Bucs was Sophie Keister with 23 points followed by Lola Lundquist who tallied 16 points.

Winona Cotter held a 40-32 edge in rebounding and had 12 steals to six for BEA.

The turnovers were fairly even with 23 for the Bucs and 20 for the Ramblers.

Winona Cotter shot over 60 percent on their two-point attempts compared to 34 percent for BEA. The Bucs made two of their 10 three-point shots while the Ramblers took 26 shots from behind the arc and made only four.