DOUBLING DOWN — Fairmont’s Nevaeh Rahm (33) and Brylee Miller (middle) double-team Jackson County Central guard Rylie Cother (4) during their Section 3AA, South Sub-Section basketball quarterfinal on Saturday night at Cardinal Gym in Fairmont. The Cardinals’ Olivia Ortega watches the action. Rahm hit the last-second field goal to pace Fairmont’s 67-66 victory. (Photo by Greg Abel)

FAIRMONT — Nevaeh Rahm proved if your path to the basket is sealed off, adjust and find another route — all within a span of 6.7 seconds, that is.

Rahm banked home the game-winning shot only a second before the lights on the backboard flashed red to propel the No. 3-seeded Fairmont Cardinals to a 67-66 Section 3AA South Sub-Section quarterfinal win over the No. 6-seeded Jackson County Central Huskies on Saturday night at Cardinal Gym.

Fairmont (14-10) advances to play No. 2-seeded Pipestone Area (17-7) in a 7:30 p.m. sub-section semifinal Tuesday night in Windom. The Arrows shot down No. 7-seeded Redwood Valley (9-17) by a 58-35 decision.

In Tuesday’s 6 p.m. South Sub-Section semifinal in Windom, No. 1-seeded Luverne plays No. 4-seeded St. James Area.

“Brylee (Miller) and Nevaeh were our top two options for the final play of the game,” said Fairmont head coach Sara Junkermeier. “Jackson (County Central) denied Brylee, so we pounded it inside to Nevaeh and she delivered for us.”

Grace Pendergast threaded the needle with her pass to Rahm in the lane for her game-best seventh and final assist.

“Nevaeh caught it, looked to go right, then somehow switched direction and took it to the left and made the shot,” said Pendergast, who also made three 3-pointers to pace her 16-point performance. “We figured they (the Huskies) were expecting us to go to Brylee for the last shot, so we knew what to do if that happened.”

Miller poured in 23 of her game-best 34 points during the opening half, including her sixth of a game-leading seven 3-pointers with 3 seconds remaining before intermission, to stake Fairmont to a 41-31 lead.

Trailing 53-49 on the heels of Rahm’s low-post basket off a Pendergast entry pass at the 9 1/2-minute juncture, the backcourt tandem of Rylie Cother and Maci Farmer served as the catalysts behind the Huskies capturing the lead in the sectional clash for the first time 2 1/2 minutes later.

Cother, who finished with 20 points, nine rebounds and five assists, banked home her only 3-pointer of the contest from the left corner to narrow JCC’s deficit to one, only to watch Miller answer the challenge.

Miller, who produced a game-best 11 rebounds to complement five steals and three assists, converted Olivia Ortega’s pass into a left-corner trifecta to keep the Cardinals ahead on the scoreboard by two with less than 9 minutes remaining.

Farmer — who erupted for a team-leading 28 points — hit a solo free throw, netted a layup off a long Cother outlet pass and then fed Cother on a cutter in traffic for a 15-foot runner and a 57-56 JCC lead with 7:11 to go in regulation.

Miller countered again by driving the baseline and tossing in a runner before Miller spotted Pendergast for a clutch 3-pointer and 61-57 lead with 3:55 to go.

Farmer refused to be denied as she fired an entry pass to Kylee Wenzel for two of her 13 points before high-skying a left-of-the-key 3-pointer that barely touched the net to swing a 62-61 lead back to JCC at 3 minutes.

Cother arched home a baseline leaner for a three-point edge before Miller answered again with a runner in traffic. Olivia Ortega’s duck-under low-post maneuver regained the lead for Fairmont at 65-64 with only 57 seconds remaining.

Brylee Anderson pocketed a pivotal steal for JCC, but Miller blocked her attempt at the go-ahead layup with 34 seconds showing on the scoreboard.

Farmer, however, recaptured the lead for the Huskies by lofting a right-baseline floater for a 66-65 edge at the 30-second mark.

Fairmont missed a shot on the next possession, but JCC turned the basketball back to the Cardinals by throwing away the ensuing inbound pass. Fairmont missed a shot off the inbound, but a tie-up during a rebounding scrum gave the home team one last possession with 6.7 seconds remaining.

Rahm neared double-double territory by producing 12 points and grabbing nine rebounds for Fairmont.

Farmer added seven rebounds, four assists and three steals to her team-leading 28-point performance.

JCC         31-35–66

FHS        41-26–67

FAIRMONT (67)

K. Busche 0-4 0-0 0, O. Ortega 1-3 0-0 2, Cihoski 0-2 0-0 0, Pendergast 6-17 1-2 16, Miller 13-26 1-2 34, Rahm 6-6 0-5 12, Terfehr 1-2 0-0 2, E. Ortega 0-0 0-0 0, Geerdes 0-1 1-4 1, Klanderud 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 27-64 3-13 67.

JCC (66)

Farmer 9-20 8-10 28, Wenzel 5-10 1-2 13, Rowe 1-6 3-4 5, Anderson 0-4 0-0 0, Cother 9-17 1-2 20, Coquyt 0-2 0-0 0, Haren 0-0 0-0 0, Benson 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 24-57 13-18 66.

3-pointers: Fairmont 10-24 (Miller 7-11, Pendergast 3-7, K. Busche 0-4, Terfehr 0-1, Klanderud 0-1); JCC 5-15 (Farmer 2-7, Wenzel 2-4, Cother 1-3, Benson 0-1). Rebounds: JCC 39 (Cother 9, Farmer 7); Fairmont 38 (Miller 11, Rahm 9). Assists: Fairmont 20 (Pendergast 7); JCC 19 (Cother 5, Farmer 4). Steals: Fairmont 13 (Miller 5, O. Ortega 3); JCC 12 (Wenzel and Farmer 3 each).