BLOOMING PRAIRIE — After jumping out to a quick lead, the Blossoms emptied their bench as they beat visiting Faribault Bethlehem Acadamy 55-26 Monday in BP. 

All five starters for BP (17-4 overall, 13-2 conference) were in the books with at least two points by the time the score was 16-4 and another four minutes would pass before a foul was called.

“It is nice to not have so many fouls called,” senior forward Kassie Lueth said, “It makes the game go so fast.”

Of the 12 girl hoopsters from BP, nine of them got put points on the board in the win with Lueth and Lynnae Nelson leading the way with 10 points each.

The Cardinals (6-18 overall, 6-8 conference) had the advantage at the charity stripe as they got to the line 23 times making 10 of their shots to the Blossoms five trips and two makes.

The last time the Awesome Blossoms played BA, the game was in Faribualt and although the Blossoms won the game, it was a close, back and forth game with the Blossoms coming away with a 10-point win. 

What made the difference from that game until now? Senior forward Lynnae Nelson said it came down to defense. 

“We pressed alot tonight,” Nelson said. “At times our press can really be effective although we don’t use it alot because we don’t have many guards and we have to be careful not to get them into foul trouble.” 

The Blossoms seem to really be jelling at the right time and seem to really be able to make it happen at will on the court.

“Tonight they really played well together,” Blossoms’ head coach John Worke said. “I am really happy with the way they are shooting and playing really smart basketball.”

With only three games left to play in the regular season, the Blossoms will be hosting two of the three games with the first being Tuesday against Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton (4-19 overall, 3-11 conference) and the last game of the year will be a non-conference game against Kasson-Mantorville (8-14 overall) on Feb. 24 at 7:30 p.m.

The only away game left to play is against a strong Waterville-Elysian-Morristown team that sits just a game and half behind BP in the overall standings and are tied with the Blossoms in the conference with a 12-2 record.

BP 36 19 — 55

BA 10 16 — 26 

BP scoring: Lynnae Nelson 10, Kassie Lueth 10, Resha Koster 8, Marie Morem 6, Katelin Strand 6, Ashley Hueman 6, Ashley Campbell 5, Whitney Burton 2, Jordan Noble 2,

BA scoring: Jena Budde 7, Karianne Nass 5, Mollie Zwebber 5, Tricia Ashley 4, Stephanie Meschke 2, Kim Stadler 2, Laura Jeanes 1