Blue Earth Area guard Kate Armon goes up for a shot against NRHEG during the Bucs’ game on Nov. 30. Panthers’ guard Preslie Nielsen (21) attempts to block the shot. The Panthers won the game 60-40.

Basketball returned to the floor of the Blue Earth Area gymnasium when the Buccaneer girls played host to the New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva Panthers on Thursday, Nov. 30.

Unfortunately for the Bucs, it was the Panthers who claimed the victory, outscoring the hometown team 60-40.

Both teams struggled to put the ball through the hoop in the opening minutes of the game.

A steal, and subsequent layup, by BEA guard Kate Armon with 10:12 to play in the first half gave the Bucs what would turn out to be their only lead of the game.

The Bucs lost their 9-8 lead when Panthers’ guard Preslie Nielsen caught fire and scored nine of her team’s next 11 points.

BEA would trail by as many as nine points in the opening half but managed to cut the deficit to six points by the time the horn sounded to end the first half.

NRHEG cranked up their defensive pressure in the second half and quickly extended their lead to double digits.

The Bucs’ offense finally caught fire and the Maroon and Gold managed to pull within nine points at 44-35 with just under six minutes remaining in the game.

However, the Panthers forced a couple of turnovers and pulled away to earn their first win of the season by a final score of 60-40.

The official scorebook showed BEA guard Lola Lundquist finishing with 15 points while Armon tallied 14 and Erika Gaydon added five.

Up next for the Bucs is a game against the Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman/Martin Luther Jaguars on Dec. 5. That game will be played in Truman.

JCC 77, BEA 56

The Blue Earth Area girls basketball team opened their basketball season Nov. 29 on the road against the Jackson County Central Huskies. The Bucs had a 33-32 lead heading into the second half but the Huskies outscored the Bucs 45-23 in the final stanza to defeat BEA 77-56.

“Overall, I was happy with the play of our team,” BEA head coach Chris Voss said. “We did a number of things we’ve been working on the last two years. I would still like to see us be more aggressive on offense.”

After JCC took a 2-0 lead to open the game, Madelyn Ferguson scored BEA’s first points of the season when she caught a pass from Erika Gaydon and put it in the hoop to tie the game at 2-2.

Lola Lundquist then scored the Bucs’ next 16 points to help BEA take an 18-14 lead.

The Bucs would lead by as many as eight points before JCC ended the first half on an 8-1 run to cut BEA’s lead to one point at 33-32.

Perhaps inspired by their success at the end of the first half, the Huskies opened the final half with a 6-2 run to go on top 38-35.

Another run by the Huskies later in the half broke a 45-45 tie and gave the home team a 57-45 lead with just under eight minutes to play.

BEA responded with their own 9-1 run to pull within four points of JCC at 58-54 with less than three minutes to play. However, the Huskies reeled off 12 straight points and ended the game on a 19-2 run to claim the 77-56 victory.

The Bucs made 11 of their 32 shots from 2-point range (34 percent) and 10 of their 26 shots from 3-point range (38.5 percent). The Huskies shot the ball 59 times from inside of the arc and made 25 of those shots for a 42.4 shooting percentage. However, their shooting from beyond the arc was not as good. They attempted 29 3-pointers and only sank six of those shots which put their shooting percentage at less than 21 percent.

The Bucs were 4-for-14 from the free throw line while the Huskies were 9-for-23.

The taller Huskies did most of their damage on the boards where they grabbed 27 offensive rebounds and 30 defensive rebounds for a total of 57. Meanwhile, the Bucs pulled down 11 offensive rebounds and 34 defensive rebounds for a total of 45.

JCC had 23 steals compared to 11 for BEA. The Huskies committed 19 turnovers while the Bucs were charged with 31.

Lundquist was the leading scorer for BEA with 30 points. Kate Armon had 15 points and Ferguson added seven.