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Cardinals thump Jaguars in prep hoops clash

TRAPPING DEFENSE — Fairmont’s Madysen Allen (left) and Faith Olson (3) trap Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman/Martin Luther’s Mallery Geistfeld during non-league basketball action Thursday night at Cardinal Gym in Fairmont. (Photo by Greg Abel)

FAIRMONT — Fairmont’s defense smothered the Jaguars.

The Cardinals stole 17 passes and forced another 10 turnovers to take a 57-23 win over Granada-Huntley-East/Truman/Martin Luther during nonconference basketball action Thursday night at Cardinal Gym in Fairmont.

All four senior Cardinal players — Faith Olson, Bryn Miller, Madysen Allen and Maddy Schwieger — shared the starting lineup for senior night.

Olson scored 11 points and dished out a co-team high three assists, Miller brought down a game-high 10 boards, Allen scored five points and poked away a game-high four steals and Schwieger brought down three boards for the Cardinals.

“It was a great way for our four players to come out on senior night and be able to have success and do what they do regularly for us,” Fairmont head coach Sara Junkermeier said of her senior group. “… and then Raquel, our manager, you know she’s doing what she needs to do.”

Fairmont’s lone non-senior starter, Cadee Becker, got the scoring started. Olson sent a post-entry pass into Becker for a layup, then the Jaguars’ Brooke Grathwohl assisted Katelyn Diegnau for a post layup to tie the matchup.

Miller then drove the baseline for a layup to put the Cardinals up 4-2, then Becker hit a free throw to put the Cardinals up three.

Diegnau scored on a putback attempt to bring the Jaguars within one, then Allen assisted Becker on a post-cutter for two of Becker’s game-high 13 points, putting the Cardinals up 7-4.

Diegnau scored again, notching two of her team-high 10 points, off another Grathwohl assist, then the Cardinals went on a run. Maggy Totzke assisted Cassidy Schultz for two points on an inbounds play with 12:50 left, putting the Cardinals ahead 9-6, then Allen assisted Totzke for a right-corner 3. Gudahl scored the next point of the matchup on a free throw with 10:02 left, then Allen turned a steal into two points with 8:20 remaining to put the Cardinals up 15-6.

Kaelynn Meixell broke the Cardinal scoring streak with a free throw at the 7:48 mark, but Olson added a 3 for the Cardinals off a Miller assist.

Kianna Preston assisted Diegnau a layup in a two-on-one situation, then collected a cutter-feeding pass from Mallery Geistfeld for a layup of her own to bring the Jaguars within 18-11.

“I thought we started out well,” Jaguar head coach TJ Pytleski said. “I was pretty happy with how we started, we were right there. … But it goes back to turning the ball over too many times and giving up some easy layups. They (Cardinals) did a good job of converting our turnovers into points. … We just got down pretty quick.”

The Cardinals then built a 17-1 run in the final 5:30 of the first half, ending in an Allen three-quarter court buzzer-beating 3, to go into halftime leading 35-12.

The Cardinals doubled up the Jaguars, 22-11, in the second half to take the dominant win.

“It was an overall good team effort,” Junkermeier said. “It was nice to see us establish the tone early. … It was nice to get everybody in. … Our shooting percentage wasn’t great, but we were confident in our shots and it was fun to see that. Our defense did what it needed to do.”

Becker complemented her game-high 13 points with three rebounds, while Totzke scored eight points, while shooting 2-for-3 from beyond the arc. Schultz added seven points for the Cardinals, Emma Gudahl poked away three steals and Brittney Mosloski brought down three rebounds.

Diegnau complemented her 10-point performance with a co-team high six rebounds for the Jaguars, while Eden Studer and Jenna Balcom each brought down six rebounds as well.

Fairmont (6-4) go right back into action tonight with a Big South Conference matchup when it hosts St. Peter at 7:30 p.m. in Cardinal Gym. The Jaguars (6-6) play host to Madelia in a Valley Conference matchup at 7:15 p.m. Tuesday in Granada.

GHECTML 12-11–23

Fairmont 35-22–57

Fairmont (57)

Becker 6-7 1-2 13, Olson 4-12 0-0 11, Totzke 3-6 0-0 8, Schultz 3-3 1-2 7, Allen 2-3 0-0 5, Miller 1-6 0-0 2, Schwieger 1-2 0-0 2, Quiring 1-3 0-0 2, Mosloski 1-3 0-2 2, Saxton 1-1- 0-0 2, Thompson 1-3 0-0 2, Nemmers 0-1 0-4 0. Totals: 24-51 3-12 57.

GHECTML (23)

Diegnau 4-9 2-2 10, Lewis 1-2 0-0 3, Grathwohl 1-6 0-0 2, Preston 1-3 0-0 2, Mattson 1-3 0-0 2, Steen 1-1 0-0 2, Meixell 0-1 1-2 1, Bentz 0-1 1-4 1, Studer 0-5 0-0 0, Geistfeld 0-4 0-0 0, Stauter 0-2 0-2 0, Balcom 0-6 0-0 0, Petrowiak 0-3 0-0 0. Totals: 9-46 4-10 23.

3-pointers: Fairmont 6-18 (Olson 3); GHECTML 1-3. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: Fairmont 32 (Miller 10). GHECTML 35 (Studer, Diegnau & Balcom 6 each). Assists: Fairmont 18 (Olson & Miller 3 each); GHECTML 7. Steals: Fairmont 17 (Allen 4, Gudahl 3); GHECTML 9.

Fairmont built a 38-27 win during B-squad action Thursday night.

Olivia Ortega led the Cardinals with 10 points, while Anna Busche and Abby Cihoski had six points each.

Grace Pendergast scored 24 points to lead the Cardinals to a 55-18 win during C-squad action Thursday in Fairmont.

Nevaeh Rahm scored 11 points and brought down five rebounds for the Cardinals, while Ava Terfehr scored 10 points and dished out eight assists. Whytnie Goerndt brought down eight rebounds for the Cardinals.

Boys Basketball

Worthington 67, Fairmont 47 — The Trojans made 51 percent on 27-for-52 field-goal shooting to topple the Cardinals by 20 points during Big South Conference basketball action Thursday night in Worthington.

Zach Jorgensen led the Cardinals with 15 points and dished out a co-team high four assists, while Sawyer Tordsen totaled 14 points and brought down a co-team high seven rebounds.

Tanner Rosch also brought down seven boards for Fairmont, which shot 18-for-47 from the field, including 5 of 19 from 3, while making 6 out of 13 free throw attempts.

Fairmont (5-5) goes to Windom for a Big South Conference matchup at 7 p.m. Monday.

Truman/Martin Luther/GHEC 79, Cedar Mountain 40 — Cael Jaskulke and Adam Heckman each delivered double-double performances to power the Jaguars by the Cougars in non-league action Thursday night in Truman.

Jaskulke and Adam Heckman each scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, while Owen Wolter supplied 12 points and distributed five assists.

Jakob Fischer contributed 10 points and four steals to the Jaguars’ winning ways, while Matt Heckman added five points and five assists.

The Jaguars (8-4) play host to Nicollet at 7:15 p.m. tonight in Truman in a Valley Conference game.

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