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JCC tops FHS in cross-over hoops tilt

FAIRMONT — The Jackson County Central Huskies girls basketball team turned the tables on the Cardinals during the Big South Conference cross-over on Friday night. After losing to the Cardinals in Jackson on Tuesday, the Huskies flipped the script and beat the Cardinals, 64-55.

“We had three keys that we wanted to try and improve on — we missed so many layups in the game on Tuesday against them, we didn’t box out at all and we turned it over too many times. Tonight, we made some layups,” Huskies head coach Chris Aggen said. “We played a full game, and that’s what we needed to do. We played hard the entire game, so I give the girls a lot credit. They came in and knocked down shots.”

Huskies junior guard Lauren Murphy powered the Huskies to an 8-5 lead to start the game. She scored six of the first points and provided junior post player Alaina Wolff with an assist on her shot.

Junior forward Brenna Cutler brought the Cardinals within one with a bucket, but the Huskies used their sharpshooting from around the perimter to jump out to a 10-point advantage. Senior guard Jayni Anderson laid in a basket and moved further out to drain a 3-pointer. Junior guard Molly Brinkman netted a trey of her own with a feed from Kailey Koep before Anderson hit her second 3 for a 21-11 advantage with 9:17 to go in the opening half.

Junior guard Brooke Hunwardsen was able to strip the ball away from the Huskies at midcourt for a breakaway layup to narrow the deficit, but Murphy responded with a basket to get the Huskies back the double-digit lead.

Cardinals sophomore guard Lexi Lunn got the team’s deficit down to three with a putback and jumper at the 4:39 mark of the period, and narrowed the visitors’ lead to one after netting a shot two minutes later.

“Brooke and Lexi played well. They got us back into the game,” Cardinals head coach Don Waletich said.

The Cardinals regained their first lead since the first two minutes of the half via a post lay-in by junior center Alli Lardy. But with one second on the clock, the Cardinals sent Brinkman to the line. She made both free throws to give the Huskies the 29-28 advantage going into halftime.

Coming out of the break, Fairmont used a strong full-court press to force two Huskies turnovers, which the team converted into four points. Wolff was fouled on a 3-point shot and, with two of the three baskets made, the Huskies were back within one.

Wolff then delivered a pass to Anderson, who put the Huskies back on top, 33-32.

With 15:24 left in the final half, Hunwardsen went to the charity stripe and netted both baskets to start a six-point run that put the Cardinals ahead, 40-34. Murphy, who finished with 14 points on 6 of 9 shooting, put an end to the Cardinals’ scoring surge by completing a 3-point play.

The Huskies then outscored the Cardinals, 15-6 during the next five minutes to earn the final lead of the game. Wolff, who topped all scorers with 17 points, posted two 3-pointers during that time to lift the Huskies to a 49-46 lead before Aggen called for a timeout.

Wolff hit her third and final trey at the 1:33 mark to get the Huskies up by nine, a defict from which the Cardinals couldn’t recover.

Sophomore guard Abby DeWitt did, however, etch away at the deficit with two free throws and a trey in the final minutes of the contest.

In the last 30 seconds of the game, the Cardinals committed a turnover that eventually sent senior guard Annika Lilleberg to the line. Both shots went in, and the Huskies came away with the 55-64 win in Fairmont.

“I give Annika a lot of credit,” Aggen said. “She hit two big free throws down the stretch. She didn’t score a lot, but she kept the ball and controlled the ball well for us.”

The Huskies featured four double-figure scorers in Brinkman (12), Anderson (10), Murphy (14) and Wolff (17). Brinkman also pocketed four steals, while Murphy and Lileberg crashed the boards for six and five rebounds, respectively.

Hunwardsen led the Cardinals with 13 points and four steals in addition to four rebounds, and Lunn finished with 12 points on 6-for-12 shooting. Crissinger brought down nine boards, and Claire Cutler chipped in eight points and six rebounds for the Cardinals. Brenna Cutler had eight points, four rebounds and two blocks.

“We were always a step behind Jackson County Central and we had way too many turnovers,” Waletich said.

Jackson County Central (9-15) hosts Cleveland on Tuesday, while Fairmont (10-14) hits the road to Medford for a Tuesday night nonleague contest.

FMT 28-27–55

JCC 29-35–64

JCC (64)

Wolff 6-11 2-3 17, Murphy 6-9 2-3 14, Brinkman 2-7 7-8 12, Anderson 4-7 0-0 10, Koep 2-5 3-4 7, Lilleberg 0-5 2-3 2, Eckert 1-2, Brandt 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-47 16-21 64.

FAIRMONT (55)

Hunwardsen 4-10 5-5 13, Lunn 6-12 0-0 12, C. Cutler 3-5 2-2 8, B. Cutler 3-10 2-2 8, DeWitt 2-6 2-2 7, Lardy 2-3 0-1 4, Crissinger 1-9 0-0 3, Mosloski 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-56 11-12 55.

3-pointers: Jackson County Central 6-18 (Wolff 3-7, Anderson 2-4, Brinkman 1-5, Murphy 0-1, Koep 0-1); Fairmont 2-16 (Crissinger 1-2, DeWitt 1-3, C. Cutler 0-1, Hunwardsen 0-2, Lunn 0-4, B. Cutler 0-4). Fouled out: None. Rebounds: Fairmont 26 (Crissinger 9, C. Cutler 6); Jackson County Central 23 (Murphy 6). Assists: Jackson County Central 12 (Wolff 3); Fairmont 6 (DeWitt 3). Steals: Fairmont 11 (Hunwardsen 4); Jackson County Central 10 (Brinkman 4).

Fairmont edged Jackson County Central, 42-41, during C-squad play on Friday night.

Kylee Harder led the Cardinals with 12 points, while Bryn Miller added 10 points. Natalie Tonne and Faith Olson each produced seven points.

Blue Earth Area 52, Luverne 28 — Samantha Barslou delivered a game-best 13 points to propel the Bucs to a 24-point triumph over the Cardinals during a Big South Conference cross-over game on Friday night in Blue Earth.

Reegan Howard produced 10 points for Blue Earth Area, while Caitlin Rorman collected seven points, nine rebounds and four steals in the win.

The Bucs connected on 22 of 46 field goals and 3 of 7 free throws on the contest.

Kami Sawtelle scored eight points to pace Luverne.

The Cardinals made 12 of 45 shots from the floor and only 2 of 5 at the charity stripe.

Blue Earth Area (13-11) travels to New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva on Tuesday night.

Luverne 16-12–28

B.E. Area 29-23–52

Boys Basketball

Worthington 79, Blue Earth Area 50 — Zach Boever and Tyler Linder combined for 37 points to power the Trojans to a 29-point Big South Conference victory over the Bucs on Friday night in Worthington.

Boever tallied a game-high 20 points for the home team, while Linder supplied 17 points.

The Trojans made 20 of 45 shots from 2-point range, 8 of 17 behind the 3-point arc and 15 of 23 at the free throw line.

Jacob Vaske netted 19 points to top Blue Earth Area, while teammate Blake Barnett produced 12 points, nine rebounds and three assists.

Chris Sanders added six points for the Bucs, who made 11 of 33 from 2-point distance, 5 of 17 behind the arc and 13 of 23 at the line.

Blue Earth Area (4-16) plays host to Le Sueur-Henderson at 6:30 p.m. tonight in Blue Earth.

BEA 19-31–50

WOR 42-37–79

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