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Bucs declaw Wildcats, 76-46

BLUE EARTH — Caitlin Rorman was out of Saturday’s game with illness, but came back on Monday night to lead the Blue Earth Area Bucs girls basketball team to a 67-47 win over the Heron Lake-Okabena Wildcats.

Rorman scored a game-best 18 points on 7-for-7 shooting with five rebounds.

“It was good to have her (Rorman) back and see that she was scoring,” Bucs head coach Al Cue said.

Rorman scored the first points for the Bucs, and senior forward Sofie Blair helped the team to a lead the team maintained throughout the game. Sofie Blair used assists from Rorman and senior center Sam Ripley and a layup in transition to stake the Bucs to a 10-6 advantage.

“Sofie’s really picking things up lately and playing very well on both ends of the floor,” Cue said.

Rorman then drained a 3-pointer for a 15-6 lead with 11:17 to go in the opening half. The Bucs went on a 7-0 run before junior forward Taylor Johanning ended the Wildcats’ scoring drought with a free throw during a 1-and-1 scenario. Senior guard Gabi Stenzel then used one of her three assists on junior guard Kiana Leighty’s trey.

Bucs junior center Lindsey Norman fed senior guard Sam Barslou for a 3 before going straight to the basket for a layup at the 7:26 mark in the half.

Leighty got the Wildcats within eight after scoring six points for a 27-19 score with 5:15 to go before the break.

The Bucs later extended its lead by 15 after Rorman converted her missed free throw into four points with less than a minute left. The sophomore forward netted the first free throw and missed the second, but got her rebound and put it back up for a 38-23 advantage. The Bucs outrebounded the Wildcats, 23-7, in the half

Lindsey Norman managed to steal the ball away and tried for the fastbreak layup at the end of the half, but it was waived off as the Bucs entered intermission with a 41-26 lead.

“We forced a lot of turnovers on them. It got us a lot of layups,” Cue said. “We weren’t that good in the halfcourt, but we did good things by pressing and getting deflections (and) turnovers.”

Lindsey Norman got up a shot 32 seconds into the second half, which did count, to keep the Bucs going.

Stenzel tried to cut into the Bucs’ lead and managed two quick baskets before going 1-for-2 at the free throw line. Senior foward Kaylan Untiedt added a foul shot at the 12:04 juncture to get the Wildcats within 20.

Rorman and Sofie Blair combined for the Bucs’ next seven points to put the Bucs up, 61-34, with 8:21 remaining in the game.

“I thought the energy was good. Our decision-making wasn’t always great. We forced too many passes, but we did — second half, for the most part — defend pretty well,” Cue said.

The Wildcats scored 13 points in the final eight minutes of the game, but couldn’t overcome the 27-point lead the Bucs created.

Sofie Blair recorded 17 points to go along with six rebounds in the contest. Lindsey Norman finished the game with 11 points, while junior forward Reegan Howard came off the bench and crashed the boards for eight rebounds and pocketed three steals.

Blue Earth Area (12-11) awaits the outcome of today’s Fairmont-Jackson County Central game to determine its opponent for the Big South Cross-over game at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Blue Earth. If Fairmont wins, the Bucs will play Luverne. If Jackson County Central wins, the team will play Blue Earth Area.

HLO 26-21–47

BEA 41-26–67

BLUE EARTH AREA (67)

Caitlin Rorman 7-7 3-5 18, Sofie Blair 8-14 1-3 17, Lindsey Norman 4-10 3-6 11, Reegan Howard 3-11 1-1 7, Brittany Johnson 3-7 0-0 7, Sam Barslou 2-5 0-1 5, Hannah Johnson 1-3 0-0 2, Ryanne Klabunde 0-3 0-0 , Sidney Blair 0-2 0-2 0, Lindsey Jacobs 0-5 0-2 0, Grace Mensing 0-1 0-0 0, Sam Ripley 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-68 8-14 67.

HERON LAKE-OKABENA (47)

Gabi Stenzel 3-9 5-8 11, Brianna Hinkeldey 3-8 5-6 11, Kiana Leighty 3-9 1-2 9, Kaylan Untiedt 3-6 1-2 7, Kailee Haberman 3-10 0-0 7, Taylor Johanning 0-0 2-4 2, Abi Fest 0-2 0-0 0, Tessla Crowell 0-2 0-2 0, Cheyenne Schaffer 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-46 14-24 47.

3-pointers: Blue Earth Area 3-7 (Rorman 1-1, Barslou 1-2, B. Johnson 1-2, Howard 0-2); Heron Lake-Okabena 3-16 (Leighty 2-5, Haberman 1-5, Fest 0-1, Crowell 0-2, Stenzel 0-3). Fouled out: Klabunde. Rebounds: Blue Earth Area 48 (Howard 8, So. Blair 6). Heron Lake-Okabena 19 (Stenzel 5). Assists: Blue Earth Area 8; Heron Lake-Okabena 6 (Stenzel 3). Steals: Blue Earth Area 12 (Howard 3); Heron Lake-Okabena 12 (Leighty 4).

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