Blue Earth Area’s Lola Lundquist (5) dribbled through two defenders on her way to making a layup in the Bucs’ game against Redwood Valley on Feb. 11. BEA kept the game close through the opening nine minutes of the contest before Redwood Valley pulled away for the victory.

The Blue Earth Area girls basketball team got off to a strong start when they played host to the Redwood Valley Cardinals on Feb. 11.

The squads were tied at 17-17 nine and a half minutes into the contest. However, the Cardinals outscored the Bucs 24-9 in the final nine minutes of the opening stanza to take a 41-26 lead at the half on their way to a 76-44 victory.

Two 3-pointers by Myla Eastman and a jumper by Emersen Weir gave BEA an 8-3 lead three minutes into the game.

After a basket by Redwood Valley, Lola Lundquist completed a traditional 3-point play to make the score 11-5 in favor of BEA.

Five consecutive points by the Cardinals trimmed the Bucs’ lead to one point at 11-10 before Eastman and Elaena Schiltz executed a perfect pick-and-roll with Schiltz making the easy layup to put the Maroon and Gold on top 13-10.

Redwood Valley went on a 7-1 run to move ahead of BEA 17-14 but a basket from behind the arc by Lundquist tied the game at 17-17 with 8:33 to play in the first half. It was at that point that the Cardinals began to pull away and build a 15-point lead at the intermission.

BEA made six of their 18 (33.3 percent) 2-point attempts during the game and seven of their 26 (26.9 percent) shots from behind the arc. The Bucs attempted 22 free throws and made 11 (50 percent).

Redwood Valley was 20-for-43 (46.5 percent) shooting 2-pointers and 8-for-25 (32 percent) on their 3-point attempts. The Cardinals made 66.7 percent (12-for-18) of their shots from the charity stripe.

Redwood Valley scored 40 of their points inside the paint compared to 10 for BEA and the Cardinals outrebounded the Bucs by a 44-31 margin.

BEA committed 25 turnovers while Redwood Valley had 12.

Lundquist led the Bucs with 28 points and three assists. Eastman tallied six points and was the leading rebounder for BEA with eight.

After hosting Pipestone Area on Feb. 13, BEA ends their regular season by traveling to St. James on Saturday, Feb. 15 to take on the Saints before returning home to host the Worthington Trojans on Tuesday, Feb. 18.

Belle Plaine 66, BEA 46

The Blue Earth Area Bucs went on the road to take on the Belle Plaine Tigers in girls basketball on Friday, Feb. 7.

After the two teams battled to a 25-25 halftime tie, the Tigers pulled away late in the game to claim a 66-46 victory.

The game was closer than the score indicated with the Bucs trailing by less than 10 points with about six minutes to play in the contest. However, Belle Plaine ended the game on a 15-4 run to claim the 20-point victory.

BEA was 5-for-25 (20 percent) from inside the arc and 8-for-30 (26.7 percent) from outside the arc. The Bucs made 75 percent (12-for-16) of their free throw attempts.

Belle Plaine was 24-for-62 (38.7 percent) from inside the arc and 2-for-19 (10.5 percent) from outside the arc. The Tigers attempted 22 free throws and made 12 (54.5 percent).

The Bucs had 43 rebounds while the Tigers finished with 52. Belle Plaine was effective scoring inside the paint with 40 points compared to only four for BEA.

The Bucs had 24 turnovers to 11 for the Tigers.

Lola Lundquist led the Maroon and Gold with 19 points. Also scoring in double figures was Myla Eastman with 10 points.

Eastman led the team in rebounds with six and Emersen Weir doled out four assists to lead BEA while Grace Schavey, Carol Schrader and Lundquist each had two.