BOARDWORK — Fairmont Cardinal post player Bryn Miller (14) hauls down a board in front of a St. James Area opponent during Big South Conference basketball action Tuesday night at Cardinal Gym in Fairmont. The Cardinals’ Cadee Becker (31) looks on. (Photo by Greg Abel)

FAIRMONT — The Cardinal girls basketball team claimed its fourth consecutive win.

Fairmont beat St. James Area 59-39 in a Big South Conference clash Tuesday night at Cardinal Gym in Fairmont. The win continues the Cardinals’ two-week streak after they beat New Ulm (62-40 on Feb. 19), Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman/Martin Luther (57-23 on Feb. 25) and St. Peter (51-42 on Friday).

Bryn Miller got the Cardinal offense started off the first of Faith Olson’s game-high seven assists, hitting a deep post hook off the glass for two of her game-high 20 points.

“I’m just so excited for Bryn, she was really locked in and I’m excited to see her play with this much confidence,” Fairmont assistant coach Sara Gudahl said of Miller’s performance.

Rayah Quiring then assisted Madysen Allen for a 3 from the left wing, before Cadee Becker sank two free throw attempts. Miller hit another post shot, this one coming off a pass from Allen, then Quiring scored a putback 2 to put the Cardinals ahead 11-1 with 15:10 left in the first half.

Jaelyn Haler assisted Addie Bowers for the first Saints’ basket of the night with 14:30 left, then Torri Mohwinkel passed to Haler for a right-wing 3 to bring the Saints within 11-6.

The teams traded points to get to 16-11 with under 10 minutes left, then the Cardinals went on a run.

Allen assisted Brittney Mosloski on a cutter through the lane, then Emma Gudahl found Miller in the post before Miller backed down her defender for another bank shot.

Gudahl then dished the ball to Allen for a 3 from the right wing before finding Miller again on another post-entry pass turned into 2.

Quiring scored on another putback attempt with 4:30 left to put the Cardinals ahead 27-11.

Taylor Sodeman broke the Cardinal run, hitting a layup for the Saints with 4:20 left for SJA’s final points of the first half.

Maggy Totzke hit a 3 off a Mosloski assist, then Mosloski found Quiring for a right-wing 3 to send the Cardinals into the break leading 33-13.

“We asked the girls to come in tonight locked in and intense,” Sara Gudahl said of the team’s recent performance. “I think they did a good job of bringing that, we had a couple of lulls … but we weathered that storm and handled ourselves. We handled them (Saints) changing their defense a couple of times, too. It took us a couple of minutes to find our rhythm again, but they did.”

The Cardinals maintained a lead of at least 13 points through the entire second half.

To complement her stellar scoring performance, Miller added a co-team high eight rebounds to near a double-double, while Quiring scored nine points, brought down six rebounds and dished out three assists.

Becker brought down eight caroms for the Cardinals, Emma Gudahl dished out four assists to complement four rebounds and Allen brought down four boards to complement six points.

Sodeman led the way for the Saints with 16 points to complement five rebounds, while Haler had nine points and seven boards and Kelsey Grunewald grabbed seven caroms for SJA.

Fairmont made 24 of 70 shots overall, including 5 of 28 attempts from beyond the arc, while hitting 6 out of 10 tries from the free throw line.

Fairmont (8-4) travels west for a Big South Conference matchup with Luverne at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, while the Saints (7-4) go to Pipestone on Friday.

St. James 13-26–39

Fairmont 33-26–59

FAIRMONT (59)

Miller 10-14 0-2 20, Quiring 4-12 0-0 9, Allen 2-6 0-0 6, Totzke 2-8 0-0 6, Mosloski 3-4 0-0 6, Becker 0-5 5-6 5, Gudahl 1-3 1-1 3, Olson 1-12 0-0 2, Schultz 1-3 0-0 2, Schwieger 0-1 0-0 0, Nemmers 0-1 0-1 0, Saxton 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 24-70 6-10 59.

ST. JAMES AREA (39)

Sodeman 4-11 6-8 16, Haler 3-6 1-1 9, Bowers 3-7 0-4 7, Becker 1-3 1-3 3, Mickelson 1-7 0-1 2, Grunewald 1-6 0-2 2, Mohwinkel 0-0 0-0 0, Brey 0-1 0-2 0, Swanson 0-1 0-0 0, Malmgren 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 13-42 8-21 39.

3-pointers: Fairmont 5-28; SJA 5-16. Fouled out: none. Rebounds: Fairmont 40 (Miller & Becker 8 each, Quiring 6); SJA 35 (Haler & Grunewald 7 each, Sodeman 5). Assists: Fairmont 18 (Olson 7, Gudahl 4, Quiring 3); SJA 6. Steals: Fairmont 10; SJA 3.

St. James Area held on to take a 41-29 win over Fairmont during B-squad action Tuesday.

Anna Ehlert and Abby Cihoski led the Cardinals with six points each, while Olivia Ortega netted five points for Fairmont.

Nevaeh Rahm led the Cardinal girls with 16 points to complement six rebounds during a 55-17 win in C-squad action Tuesday.

Ava Terfehr scored 14 points for the Cardinals, while dishing out six assists. Grace Pendergast put up 13 points and brought down eight rebounds, while Hope Klanderud totaled eight points and Whytnie Goerndt grabbed eight caroms.

Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman/Martin Luther 63, Madelia 15 — Michaelah Petrowiak scored 11 points and brought down eight rebounds to lead the Jaguars past the Blackhawks during Valley Conference action Tuesday night in Granada.

Emily Stauter contributed nine points to the Jaguar offense, while Amber Steen had six points and six rebounds. Kaelynn Meixell scored seven points, Kylee Bentz had five points and Eden Studer and Katelyn Diegnau grabbed five rebounds each.

The Jaguars made 24 out of 77 attempts from the field and hit 11 of 17 tries from the free throw line.

The Jaguars (7-6) go to Cleveland for a Valley matchup at 7:15 p.m. Friday, then play host to Alden-Conger/Glenville-Emmons at 4:45 p.m. Saturday in Granada.

Boys Basketball

Blue Earth Area 71, Martin County West 45 — Three Bucs scored in double digits to lead BEA past the Mavericks during a nonconference matchup Tuesday night in Blue Earth.

Braden Gudahl led BEA with 18 points, while Gavin Storbeck continued his hot scoring streak with 14 points to complement four rebounds.

Ashton Lloyd put up 12 points and brought down five rebounds for the Bucs, while Cameron Anderson scored eight points and grabbed seven boards. Austin Thielfoldt led the Bucs with eight assists to complement six rebounds, while Sam Keister recorded five blocks.

Zach Anderson led the Mavericks with 14 points to complement six rebounds and three assists, while Tanner Sinn neared a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds.

Mitch Weber also neared a double-double with 10 points and eight boards. Owen Runkle grabbed four caroms for the Mavericks.

BEA shot 24-for-52 from the field, including 15 of 30 from beyond the 3-point arc, while hitting 8 of 10 attempts from the free throw line.

MCW made 20 out of 56 attempts overall, including 4-for-18 shooting from 3, and made 1 of 3 attempts from the charity stripe.

BEA (12-2) plays host to Redwood Valley in a Big South Conference matchup at 7:15 p.m. Friday. MCW (6-8) play at Nicollet in a Valley Conference Matchup at 7:15 p.m. Thursday.