The Bucs’ Kate Armon goes flying high as she sails to the basket for two points during a recent game.

The Jackson County Central Huskies defeated the Blue Earth Area Buccaneers 77-33 in girls’ basketball action on Tuesday, Jan. 23. The action took place on the Bucs’ home court.

The Huskies took a 46-21 lead at the half and then outscored the home team 31-12 in the closing half for their 44-point victory.

BEA made only three of their 18 shot attempts from 2-point range (16.7) percent and eight of their 35 3-point attempts (23 percent). The Bucs shot 33.3 percent from the free-throw line, making three of their nine shots from the charity stripe.

JCC out rebounded BEA by a 50-33 margin. The Bucs turned the ball over 21 times while the Huskies only had nine turnovers.

Lola Lundquist led the Maroon and Gold with 17 points followed by Kate Armon with eight. Lundquist also led the team with eight rebounds while Armon had the most assists with four.

The Bucs were on the road to face Fairmont on Friday, Jan. 26. On Saturday, Jan. 27, they played at Granada-Huntley-East Chain-Truman-Martin Luther. They will return home on Tuesday, Jan. 30 to host the St. Peter Saints.

Maple River 68, BEA 28

The visiting Eagles built up a 20-point lead at the end of the first half and then outscored the Bucs 36-16 in the second half to go home with a 68-28 victory over BEA on Friday, Jan. 19.

BEA struggled to make shots and made only five of their 23 2-point attempts and just four of their 22 3-point attempts. The Bucs went 6-for-18 from the charity stripe.

The Eagles had a 51-23 advantage in rebounds and used their height advantage to score 34 points in the paint.

Turnovers were fairly even with the Bucs being charged with 10 and the Eagles having seven.

Lola Lundquist led BEA with 19 points and three assists. Ashlyn Klinkner led the Bucs in rebounds with five while Lundquist, Kate Armon and Madelyn Ferguson each had four.

BEA 50, MVL 31

The host Bucs rallied from a 20-12 halftime deficit against Minnesota Valley Lutheran and outscored the visiting team 38-11 in the final half to defeat the Chargers 50-31 and earn their second victory of the season.

“We turned up our defensive intensity in the second half,” BEA coach Chris Voss said. “Our guards outplayed their guards and the home crowd really cheered us on and we got the W.”

Five and a half minutes into the second half the Chargers were still leading the Bucs by seven points at 27-20.

But then things began to go BEA’s way.

A 3-pointer by Lola Lundquist cut MVL’s lead to four points. A steal by Madelyn Ferguson led to a basket by Kate Armon and suddenly the Bucs were only behind by two points at 27-25.

The Chargers made a free throw to go back up by three points at 28-25 before Ferguson’s drive resulted in a basket and pulled the Bucs to within one point of their opponents. BEA’s Carol Schrader found teammate Ashlyn Klinkner all alone under the basket for an easy layup and the Bucs were now in front 29-28. Two more baskets by Armon sandwiched around a layup by Lundquist put the Bucs on top 35-28 with 6:45 remaining in the game.

Armon added a free throw and Lundquist swished two 3-pointers and scored off an offensive rebound to give the Bucs a 44-28 lead with 2:40 remaining. BEA added six more points while MVL scored three more to make the final score 50-31 in favor of the Bucs.

BEA made 15 of their 34 2-point attempts (44 percent) but only four of their 30 3-point attempts (13 percent).

Although the Bucs were out rebounded by the Chargers by a 51-31 margin, the Maroon and Gold forced MVL to commit 33 turnovers while BEA finished with nine.

Lundquist led all scorers with 26 points. Armon added 13 while Ferguson tallied six. Armon led in rebounds for the Bucs with five and Lundquist led in assists with five. Ferguson had four steals for BEA. Lundquist and Erika Gaydon each had three.