FINGERTIP BATTLE — Fairmont’s Faith Olson (front) and Blue Earth Area’s Cali Beyer (3) battle for a rebound during Big South basketball action Thursday night in Fairmont. The Cardinals’ Cadee Becker (31) and the Bucs’ McKenna Dutton (second from right) watch the play. (Photo by Greg Abel)

FAIRMONT — Blue Earth Area’s seam-sealing 2-3 zone defense forced Fairmont to take 33 shots from 3-point range, including a 3-for-23 effort during an 11-point second half, and the visiting Bucs exited Cardinal Gym Thursday night with a grind-it-out 34-31 Big South basketball victory over the rival Cardinals.

“We just packed our zone tight and limited their second chances at the offensive end during the second half,” said Blue Earth Area head coach Al Cue. “We’re not a tall team and we (coaching staff) knew Fairmont would probably outrebound us, so we had to be aggressive on the defensive boards.”

“We outrebounded them 2-to-1, but couldn’t take advantage of those extra looks,” Fairmont head coach Sara Junkermeier said in reference to the Cardinals’ 35-17 edge on the boards.

After Te’a Armstrong sank a 3-pointer and later connected on two free throws to stake the Bucs to their initial lead of the game at 17-15 with 2:59 remaining in the first half, Rayah Quiring and Madysen Allen combined for five Cardinal points during a 16-second span to reclaim the lead at 20-17. Quiring nailed a trifecta before Emma Gudahl’s steal-turned-assist created Allen’s layup with 44 seconds to go before intermission.

Arika Howard, however, had the final say of the opening half by driving the lane and tossing in two of her game-high 12 points to inch Blue Earth Area within one at the 32-second juncture.

McKenna Dutton’s solo charity toss, Howard’s reverse lay-in and Eloise Blair’s two free throws to open the second half swung a 24-20 lead back to the Bucs before Brittney Mosloski ended the Cardinals’ 0-for-8 field-goal drought at the 11:24 mark.

Mosloski hit a putback basket on the heels of Allen’s steal before Faith Olson buried a 3-pointer to put Fairmont ahead 25-24 with 10:24 showing on the scoreboard.

Armstrong’s runner and Howard’s power in the paint later flipped the lead back to the Bucs before Olson delivered three more of her team-best nine points via a trey to tie the game for the fourth and final time at 28-all with 5:22 remaining.

Cali Beyer then snapped the nylon nets on a right-corner 3 off a Blair assist to give the Bucs the lead for good at 31-28 with 3:48 left in regulation.

“Cali’s a solid 3-point shooter and when she hit that one — her only 3 of the night, that was definitely a turning point for sure,” said Cue.

Howard utilized a nifty baseline move to up Blue Earth Area’s lead to five before Fairmont finally ended its 5-minute offensive drought with Gudahl’s right-wing 3 with just 25 seconds to go.

Cadee Becker garnered a game-best 13 rebounds for Fairmont, Allen doled out three assists, Olson and Gudahl pocketed three steals apiece, while Quiring supplied five points off the bench.

Howard finished a solid all-around game with 12 points, six rebounds and three steals, Armstrong collected eight points, four assists and three steals, while Dutton chipped in seven points.

Fairmont (2-2) travels to New Richland on Tuesday night to face New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva in a nonconference game. Blue Earth Area (2-2) hits the road to Mapleton on Tuesday night to play Maple River in a non-league contest.

B.E. Area 19-15–34

Fairmont 20-11–31

FAIRMONT (31)

Becker 1-5 1-4 3, Gudahl 1-6 0-0 3, Miller 1-2 0-0 2, Allen 1-11 0-0 2, Olson 3-15 0-0 9, Mosloski 2-2 0-0 4, Totzke 0-3 0-0 0, Quiring 2-9 0-0 5, Schwieger 1-1 0-0 2, Schultz 0-2 1-2 1. Totals 12-56 2-6 31.

B.E. AREA (34)

Dutton 3-6 1-2 7, Howard 5-7 2-3 12, Beyer 1-3 1-2 4, Blair 0-3 3-4 3, Armstrong 2-4 3-4 8, Keister 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 11-24 10-15 34.

3-pointers: FHS 5-33 (Olson 3, Gudahl 1, Quiring 1); BEA 2-6 (Beyer 1, Armstrong 1). Fouled out: Keister. Rebounds: FHS 35 (Becker 13); BEA 17 (Howard 6). Assists: FHS 7 (Allen 3); BEA 7 (Armstrong 4). Steals: FHS 11 (Olson and Gudahl 3 each); BEA 9 (Howard and Armstrong 3 each).

Olivia Ortega netted nine points to top Fairmont’s 46-14 victory over Blue Earth Area during B-squad action Thursday night.

Jazlyn Geerdes delivered eight points for the Cardinals, while Ava Terfehr supplied seven points.

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Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman/Martin Luther 43, Cleveland 40 — Jenna Balcom netted 11 points to help engineer the Jaguars’ three-point Valley Conference victory over the Clippers on Thursday night in Granada.

Eden Studer contributed nine points and five rebounds to the Jaguars’ narrow margin of victory, while Katelyn Diegnau neared double-double territory by netting eight points to complement seven rebounds.

Mallery Geistfeld distributed three assists for the Jaguars, who capitalized at the free throw line by sinking 20 of 36 attempts.

The Jaguars (3-1) play host to Martin County West on Tuesday night in Granada.

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Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial 74, Martin County West 50 — Lexi Cloyd buried five 3-pointers to highlight her game-leading 19-point performance to steer the Knights to a 24-point Valley Conference win over the Mavericks on Thursday night in Trimont.

Lakesha Carter contributed 16 points to LCWM’s winning ways, while Olivia Harazin chipped in 12 points.

Kari Matejka and Emily Dunlop poured in 14 points apiece to top MCW’s effort, while Marissa Whitehead supplied eight points. Matejka connected on a team-best four 3-pointers on the game.

Martin County West (2-2) faces GHEC/Truman/Martin Luther on Tuesday night in Granada.

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Boys Basketball

Truman/Martin Luther/GHEC 62, Alden-Conger 36 — Owen Wolter topped a balanced scoring attack to propel the Jaguars to a 26-point Valley Conference triumph over the Knights on Thursday night in Alden.

Wolter poured in 16 points, Matt Heckman contributed 14 points to the victory, while Adam Heckman tossed in 10 points.

Due to technical difficulties, no other stats were available.

The Jaguars (3-1) hit the road to Cleveland tonight for another league game.