FAIRMONT — Balanced scoring, bench contributions, basketball-hawking defense and ball movement.

Fairmont’s boxscore featured seven players scoring six or more points — with 22 points and 11 rebounds coming from the hometown Cardinals’ valuable reserves — to fend off the Redwood Valley Cardinals, 60-53, during Big South Conference action Monday night.

Fairmont power forward Bryn Miller, who topped the team-oriented offensive attack with 11 points, converted a Madysen Allen entry pass into a low-post basket to trigger a pivotal 12-1 run to close out the final 5 minutes of the opening half.

Cadence Becker, who neared a rare triple-double performance on the strength of 10 points and game-bests of 10 rebounds and six assists, then delivered a steal-turned-layup before Allen and Maggy Totzke displayed their quick-twitch reflexes by combining to pocket three consecutive steals.

Emma Gudahl, who contributed six points off the bench, was the beneficiary of thefts-turned-assists by Allen and Totzke, respectively, for back-to-back layups. Totzke then made one of her four steals and fed Becker for a low-post turnaround before Becker switched roles.

Becker then displayed her deft passing touch by finding Brittney Mosloski for a low-post lay-in for two of her eight points off the bench to build a 36-21 halftime lead for the hometown Cardinals.

“We came out of the lockerroom with decent energy to start the game, and everybody really moved the ball well within our offense during the latter stages of the first half,” said Fairmont head coach Sara Junkermeier. “Our defense created some good offensive opportunities to lead to our double-figure run just before halftime.”

Miller and Becker combined in the paint to help offset Redwood Valley 6-foot-1 center Haley Garman’s dominant inside presence during the early stages of the second half.

Garman, who finished with a game-best 18 points and team-high eight boards, single-handedly produced 10 consecutive points for the visiting Cardinals to whittle Fairmont’s lead to 11 just 6 minutes into the final 18-minute segment.

Allen countered for the hometown Cardinals by sinking one of her two 3-pointers before Redwood Valley point guard Aubrey Hicks lended a hand to the visitors’ 6-0 run. Hicks hit a runner before distributing one of her co-game-best six assists to Hannah Schjenken for a clutch 3 to narrow the gap to 48-40.

Miller, Mosloski and Rayah Quiring — who delivered eight points and five boards off the bench, combined for Fairmont’s next 10 points to keep Redwood Valley at an arm’s length on the scoreboard.

Mosloski used a zig-zag post move off a Faith Olson entry pass for a low-post leaner before converting another Becker pass into two more points to restore a 54-42 lead with 4:25 remaining in regulation.

Schjenken, who produced 12 points, nailed another 3-pointer and a runner before Quiring countered with two free throws and a sliding baseline banker to keep Fairmont ahead by nine with 2 minutes to go.

“It was tough playing our third game in four days, and then we didn’t have school today (due to the semester break),” said Junkermeier, “but we managed to weather the storm.”

Allen netted nine points and three steals for Fairmont, while Totzke and Gudahl chipped in six points apiece.

AJ Guggisberg netted 11 points on the strength of three 3s, while Hicks produced 10 points for Redwood Valley.

Fairmont (10-8) travels to St. James Area on Thursday night, while Redwood Valley (7-12) hits the road to Marshall tonight.

Redwood 21-32–53

Fairmont 36-24–60

FAIRMONT (60)

Allen 3-5 1-1 9, Miller 5-8 1-2 11, Becker 3-8 4-8 10, Totzke 3-8 0-1 6, Olson 1-5 0-2 2, Gudahl 2-3 2-6 6, Quiring 3-10 2-2 8, Mosloski 4-6 0-0 8. Totals 24-53 10-22 60.

REDWOOD (53)

Irlbeck 0-2 0-0 0, Schjenken 4-8 1-2 12, Garman 7-12 4-5 18, Guggisberg 4-9 0-1 11, Hicks 3-8 4-7 10, Ahrens 0-0 1-2 1, Beran 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 18-39 11-19 53.

3-pointers: Redwood Valley 6-12 (Schjenken 3-5, Guggisberg 3-7); Fairmont 2-8 (Allen 2-2, Olson 0-3, Totzke 0-2, Quiring 0-1). Fouled out: None. Rebounds: Fairmont 31 (Becker 10); Redwood Valley 23 (Garman 8). Assists: Fairmont 14 (Becker 6); Redwood Valley 9 (Hicks 6). Steals: Fairmont 15 (Totzke 4, Allen 3); Redwood Valley 4.

Carissa Saxton scored 13 points to top Fairmont’s 41-25 victory over Redwood Valley during B-squad action Monday night.

Emily Frank contributed 12 points to the hometown Cardinals’ winning effort.

Abby Cihoski produced 21 points and six boards to steer Fairmont to a 40-18 triumph over Redwood Valley during C-squad play Monday night.

Jazlyn Geerdes contributed seven points, six assists and five rebounds to Fairmont’s winning ways, Kate Busche scored five points, while Allison Janssen grabbed five rebounds.

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Tanner Rosch collected 17 points and seven rebounds to guide Fairmont to a 54-44 win over Brookings during B-squad boys basketball action Saturday in Fairmont.

Jacob Crissinger scored 12 points and David Maakestad added 10 points for the Cardinals, who hit the road to Blue Earth Area tonight.