MANKATO — Blue Earth Area head coach Al Cue’s No. 2-seeded Bucs utilized their trademark defense and Hoosier-esque offense to battle the No. 1-seeded St. Peter Saints within three points — 18-15 — by intermission Tuesday night.

St. Peter head coach Bob Southworth’s basketball-hawking four-guard lineup, however, borrowed a page out of Cue’s playbook during the second half of the two Big South Conference rivals’ Section 2AA, South Sub-Section championship game at the Taylor Center.

Olivia McCabe, who produced a game-best seven thefts, and the high-pressure Saints’ defense held the Bucs scoreless for an 8-minute stretch to open the second half before St. Peter fended off Blue Earth Area’s late offensive surge, 43-36, at Bresnan Arena on the Minnesota State University campus.

St. Peter (22-7) advances to face North Sub-Section champion Norwood-Young America Central at 8 p.m. Friday night for the Section 2 crown back at the Taylor Center in Mankato. The Raiders eliminated Glencoe-Silver Lake, 56-39, during the North finale.

“We accomplished one of our pre-game goals and that was to limit St. Peter’s effectiveness from 3-point range,” said Cue, whose defense allowed the Saints to make only 4 of 20 behind the bonus arc. “Unfortunately, their box-and-one defense to start the second half stumped us, and then it went from a tight game to an 11-point deficit before we finally scored again.

“The girls did a nice job of getting within four of them (the Saints) down the stretch, but it wasn’t enough in the end.”

After Buc junior forward Caitlin Rorman, who topped all scorers with 16 points, sank a free throw to tie the game at 15-all, the Saints’ Kayla Oeltjenbruns converted one of Olivia McCabe’s game-best six assists to knock down the go-ahead 3-pointer with a minute remaining before halftime.

Grace Mensing converted a nifty give-and-go baseline play off one of senior center Lindsey Norman’s team-best five assists to open the second half for Blue Earth Area, but 18-17 was as close as the Bucs would get for the remainder.

Allison McCabe nailed a left-corner 3-pointer off an Ellie Johnson assist to trigger St. Peter’s ensuing 10-0 surge during the next 8 minutes.

Olivia McCabe, who neared quadruple-double territory by collecting a team-best 11 points to complement eight rebounds, seven steals and six assists, hit a scoop runner to cause Cue to call timeout at the 13:46 juncture.

Sarah Conlon hit a solo free throw, Olivia McCabe banked in a putback basket and Ellie Johnson tossed in a left-wing 18-footer to stake the Saints to a 28-17 lead.

Rorman’s weaving cross-overs in and through traffic finally ended the Bucs’ offensive drought with 8:51 left in regulation.

Blue Earth Area’s Reegan Howard and Hannah Johnson later nailed left-corner 3s to bookend St. Peter post player Sienna Wiebusch’s low-post basket to whittle the Bucs’ deficit to 32-27 with 5:20 to go.

Ellie Johnson and Olivia McCabe, however, combined to connect on 6 of 7 free throws during the final 1:21 to seal the Saints’ sub-section triumph.

“I thought overall, we played very good defense against St. Peter tonight,” said Cue, who limited the sharpshooting Saints to only 15-for-48 shooting from the field overall for 32 percent on the contest.

St. Peter swept the regular-season series with Blue Earth Area, posting a 52-46 win on Jan. 9 before edging the Bucs 65-56 on Feb. 3.

Hannah Johnson netted five points for the Bucs, while Lindsey Norman tallied four points to go with team-bests of seven rebounds and five assists.

Ellie Johnson scored seven points for St. Peter, while Wiebusch chipped in six points to complement a game-best 10 rebounds.

B.E. Area 15-21–36

St. Peter 18-25–43

B.E. AREA (36)

Rorman 6-12 3-4 16, H. Johnson 1-5 2-2 5, L. Norman 2-6 0-0 4, Sofie Blair 1-5 1-3 4, Mensing 1-3 0-0 2, R. Howard 1-4 0-0 3, Armstrong 0-1 0-0 0, Stevermer 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 13-39 6-9 36.

ST. PETER (43)

Wiebusch 3-7 0-1 6, Oeltjenbruns 1-6 0-0 3, Welp 2-9 0-0 5, O. McCabe 3-8 5-7 11, E. Johnson 2-4 2-3 7, Conlon 2-9 2-4 6, Kelly 0-1 0-0 0, A. McCabe 2-4 0-0 5. Totals 15-48 9-15 43.

3-pointers: BEA 4-18 (Rorman 1-4, H. Johnson 1-4, Sofie Blair 1-3, R. Howard 1-3, Mensing 0-1, Armstrong 0-1, Stevermer 0-2); St. Peter 4-20 (E. Johnson 1-1, A. McCabe 1-2, Oeltjenbruns 1-4, Welp 1-7, O. McCabe 0-4, Conlon 0-1, Kelly 0-1). Fouled out: None. Rebounds: St. Peter 27 (Wiebusch 10, O. McCabe 8); B.E. Area 25 (L. Norman 7). Assists: B.E. Area 10 (L. Norman 5); St. Peter 9 (O. McCabe 6). Steals: St. Peter 13 (O. McCabe 7); B.E. Area 3.