The Pipestone defenders can only watch while BEA’s Myla Eastman (21) gets open for a shot in the lane when the two teams met in Blue Earth on Feb. 13.

The Blue Earth Area girls basketball team knew they faced a tough task when they went on the road to face the Tri-City United Titans in the opening round of the Section 2AA Basketball Tournament on Monday night, Feb. 24.

Tri-City came into the tournament as the No. 3-seeded team with a record of 17 wins and seven losses. BEA was the No. 14-seeded team out of the 15 teams in Section 2AA and was still in search of their first win of the season.

TCU wasted no time putting points on the board. Three of their first four baskets were 3-pointers and by the time four minutes had run off the clock they held a 16-0 lead on their way to a 73-43 victory.

Grace Schavey scored the Bucs’ first two points after BEA broke TCU’s full-court press. The Bucs had actually had many good scoring opportunities prior to Schavey’s basket but could not get the ball to fall through the hoop.

By the time the buzzer sounded to signal the end of the first half, the Titans had built a 51-18 lead.

BEA actually outscored TCU in the second half by a 25-22 margin but the Titans were able to easily move on in the playoffs. TCU hosted No. 6-seeded Belle Plaine in the quarterfinals of the Section 2AA Tournament on Thursday, Feb. 17.

Although they got off to a slow start, BEA ended up shooting 40.6 percent (13-for-32) from 2-point range for the game. They were 5-for-26 (19.2 percent) on their 3-point attempts and were 2-for-4 (50 percent) from the charity stripe.

TCU was 20-for-53 (37.7 percent) from inside the arc. The Titans really shot the ball from outside the arc where they were 8-for-13 (61.5 percent). TCU attempted 19 free throws and made nine (47.4 percent).

The taller, more physical Titans had a 52-29 advantage in rebounding and were able to score 38 of their points in the paint compared to 12 for BEA.

The Bucs committed 18 turnovers during the game while the Titans had 12.

Leading scorer for BEA was Lola Lundquist with 24 points. Grace Schavey finished with seven points.

Elaena Schiltz led the team in rebounding with seven and Lundquist was the leader in assists with four. Jessi James had two steals for BEA.

The Bucs did not have any seniors on the team so all of the players will be eligible to come back and play again next year.