Fairmont floors Pipestone Area in Section 3AA, South quarterfinal

FAIRMONT -- Donning street clothes, Maggy Totzke cheered on her basketball teammates from Fairmont's bench area during Saturday night's Section 3AA, South Sub-Section quarterfinal clash with Pipestone Area.

With the program's all-time career 3-point leader out with an injury, the Cardinals turned to Rayah Quiring, Emma Gudahl and Kate Busche to supply long-distance firepower.

Quiring connected for three of Fairmont's seven 3-pointers to pace her game-best 19-point performance, Cadee Becker powered home 16 points from the low post and Gudahl nailed two more trifectas to fuel her 13-point effort to propel the No. 2-seeded Cardinals to a 71-58 triumph over the No. 7-seeded Arrows in Fairmont.

Fairmont (22-3) advances to face No. 3-seeded Minnesota Valley Lutheran (21-6) in Game 2 on Tuesday night in a sub-section semifinal in Windom. No. 1-seeded Luverne and No. 4-seeded Jackson County Central tip off Game 1 of Tuesday's postseason doubleheader at 6 p.m.

"I hurt my ankle in practice and just need to stay off of it for a few days," said Totzke, who buried five 3-pointers en route to 17 points during Fairmont's 75-44 regular-season win over Pipestone Area on Jan. 27.

"Once again, we used a balanced offense -- inside and outside -- to get the job done tonight," said Cardinals' head coach Sara Junkermeier, whose lineup made 26 of 51 field goals overall for 50.9 percent.

After battling to early ties at 5-all, 7, 10 and 12, Kate Busche triggered Fairmont's string of three consecutive treys to help build a lead the home team would never relinquish.

Quiring then swooshed back-to-back 3s off respective assists from Cassidy Schultz and Gudahl to create a 21-12 margin for Fairmont and force a Pipestone Area timeout at the 8:23 juncture.

Arrow eighth-grade guard Jadyn Kor hit a 12-foot runner to halt the Cardinals' 11-0 scoring surge before Fairmont flipped its offensive strategy to pounding the basketball into the hard-working Becker in the low blocks.

Becker reeled off six straight points, including a putback basket and a pair of low-post leaners off feeds from Brittney Mosloski and Schultz, respectively, to widen Fairmont's lead to 30-19 with 3 minutes remaining before halftime.

Gudahl later delivered a traditional 3-point play at the 1:37 mark, but Marli Taubert countered by nailing a 3-pointer and converting a one-and-one situation during the final minute to leave the Arrows trailing by just seven at the break.

Becker matched Gudahl by producing an 'and-1' low-post play off a Schultz assist to open the second half before Gudahl drilled another 3-pointer to restore a double-digit lead at 39-28.

Arinn McGee, who generated a double-double performance of 18 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, erupted for 16 of the Arrows' 32 second-half points to prevent the Cardinals from running completely away with the win. The 6-foot-3 McGee missed the two teams' regular-season clash due to an injury.

Mosloski contributed eight points and doled out a game-best five assists for the Cardinals, Busche supplied six points off the bench, while Schultz collected a team-best nine boards to complement four points, three steals and four assists in filling the void in Fairmont's starting lineup due to Totzke's absence.

Aubrea Kor generated 16 points and pocketed three steals for Pipestone Area (7-18), Kayla Hubbling supplied eight points and three assists, Taubert chipped in eight points, while Jadyn Kor added seven points.

Pipestone 26-32--58

Fairmont 33-38--71

FAIRMONT (71)

Becker 6-7 4-7 16, Quiring 6-13 4-4 19, Mosloski 4-6 0-0 8, Schultz 2-6 0-0 4, Gudahl 4-7 3-5 13, Pendergast 0-2 0-0 0, Miller 1-5 1-1 3, K. Busche 2-3 0-0 6, Terfehr 0-1 0-0 0, Rahm 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 26-51 12-17 71.

PIPESTONE (58)

Kayla Hubbling 4-8 0-0 8, A. Kor 6-15 3-4 16, McGee 9-13 0-1 18, J. Kor 3-5 0-0 7, Taubert 2-6 2-2 8, Kyla Hubbling 0-0 1-2 1, Wiese 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 24-49 6-9 58.

3-pointers: Fairmont 7-19 (Quiring 3-7, Gudahl 2-4, K. Busche 2-3, Schultz 0-1, Pendergast 0-2, Miller 0-2); Pipestone 4-12 (Taubert 2-4, A. Kor 1-3, J. Kor 1-2, Kayla Hubbling 0-1, Wiese 0-2). Rebounds: Fairmont 29 (Schultz 9); Pipestone 24 (McGee 10). Assists: Fairmont 15 (Mosloski 5, Schultz 4); Pipestone 11 (Kayla Hubbling and Wiese 3 each). Steals: Fairmont 10 (Quiring and Schultz 3 each); Pipestone 6 (A. Kor 3).

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Jackson County Central 84, St. James Area 60 -- Sadie Voss and Maci Farmer combined to amass 53 points to power the No. 4-seeded Huskies to a 24-point playoff victory over the No. 5-seeded Saints on Saturday in Jackson.

Voss produced a game-best 29 points, Farmer tossed in 24 more, while Rylie Cother netted 18 points for JCC, which outscored St. James Area 53-34 in the second half after building a 31-26 lead by intermission.

The Huskies (17-10) advance to play No. 1-seeded Luverne (22-4) in a 6 p.m. Section 3AA, South Sub-Section semifinal Tuesday night in Windom. Luverne gained the next round of the postseason by eliminating Redwood Valley, 56-15.