AROUND THE BLOCK — Fairmont’s Olivia Ortega (13) manages to score around a block attempt by Waseca’s Avery Madsen (14) during Big South Conference basketball action Friday night at Cardinal Gym in Fairmont. The Cardinals’ Jazlyn Geerdes (back left) trails the play. (Photo by Greg Abel)

FAIRMONT — Having a day off can be a nice for some. As an athlete, it can throw off your routine.

In Friday night’s Big South Conference girls basketball showdown between Waseca and Fairmont, both teams showed the weather could have been a key contributor in a low first-half 12-12 score as Waseca would rally and escape Cardinal Gym with a 42-36 victory over Fairmont.

“Definitely not having practice from the snow (Thursday) got us in the mentality of being scared to shoot. Always coming down to Fairmont, they always scare you a little bit. We woke up and ending up pulling away,” said Waseca post player Kloe Wadd, who scored a team-high 12 points.

After being held to two first-half points and two fouls, Wadd would erupt to score the Bluejays’ next six points with 14:15 left in regulation.

“I sure did. I got in foul trouble the first half. The second half I came out with a different mentality. You got to take it to them. The passes were going great from my guards. They were looking in and creating space and ended up putting them in,” Wadd said.

Beyond the 3-point arc, both teams struggled as Bluejays sank one of eight and the Cardinals drained two of seven. Fairmont junior guard Hope Klanderud would swish a wide-open three from the left side, erupting the Cardinal bench in regaining the lead 22-21 at 12:27 left as freshman Brylee Miller would earn one of her four assists of the game.

“I was working on penetrating by getting more girls open. I saw that I had the opportunity to put it up and luckily it fell in,” Klanderud said.

At the 9:32 mark, Miller contributed with one of her three blocks on the game as she hustled down the court, dishing a pass to Ava Terfehr before being running out of bounce, extending their lead 28-21.

“I saw her look over and knew I had to be over there on the help side. That is something we talk about is being on that help side so she can’t get a ton of points. We had to keep driving on her (Wadd) and got her into foul trouble,” Miller said. “A lot of people think it’s about the points. Getting that assist is good, too, because we get to benefit other girls on our team.”

The Cardinals would eventually take a 10-point advantage, but in the final 3:10 the Bluejays would cut the deficit to five at 35-30 as Avery Madsen would connect with Wadd. Moments later Mia Kanewischer would step in front with a steal on Olivia Ortega for a easy clear path layup trailing 36-35 with 1:12 left.

“My heart was pumping. I made it. It helped us to seal a victory. All I was thinking about was don’t miss,” Kanewischer said.

The Cardinals opened the game up for a 4-0 run. Ortega to Abigail Cihoski and Miller scoring her first of eight points. Madsen used her 6-foot height to her advantage, tying the game up at 12 with 33.6 seconds left of the first period as she was fouled by Nevaeh Rahm making it her fourth of the game as both competitors went after the ball.

“If you would have told me we would have a tie game at the half, I would say you are crazy. It was a total defensive battle. Both teams played in your face intense help side,” Cardinals coach Sara Junkermeier said. “I was proud of our kids on how hard they battled.

“Every game you hope to get better. You hope we can fine tune some things. We both got better tonight. When you have to play this hard for that many minutes we don’t have games like this. If we are going to get better we have to play high quality opponents to be willing to battle. I thought some of our inexperience showed, but we have kids that can handle those situations.”

Fairmont (7-5) plays host to Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman/Martin Luther (8-4) at 7 p.m. Monday night at Cardinal Gym.

Waseca defeated Fairmont in C-squad action, 49-41, Friday night.

Kayla Lowry scored 16 points to top the Cardinals.

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North Union 43, West Hancock 42 — Emily Meyer connected for the game-winning basket with 2 seconds remaining in regulation to propel the Iowa Class 2A No. 10-ranked Warriors to a one-point decision over the Eagles on Friday night in Britt, Iowa.

Meyer finished with a game-leading 18 points, while Naomi Jones contributed nine points and five steals to North Union’s winning performance.

Olivia Merrill generated seven points, seven rebounds and three assists for the Warriors.

North Union (12-2) travels to Eagle Grove, Iowa, on Monday night in a rescheduled game.

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Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman/ Martin Luther 59, Cleveland 54 — Madisen Lewis netted a game-best 17 points, blocked four shots and grabbed five boards to sail the Jaguars to a five-point Valley Conference victory over the Clippers on Friday night in Cleveland.

McKenna Benck delivered a double-double performance of 14 points and 10 rebounds to complement pocketing five steals for the Jaguars.

Olivia Mattson neared double-double territory for the Jaguars by netting 12 points to go with garnering eight rebounds to go with four steals.

Brianna Petrowiak produced seven points and pulled down six rebounds for the Jaguars (9-4), who travel to Fairmont on Monday night for a nonconference game.