MUSCLING THROUGH ­— Fairmont’s Kennedy Becker (second from left) swipes the basketball from Tri-City United’s Alexis Marcussen (middle) and drives between her and Titan teammate Audrey Vosejpka (far left) during nonconference action Friday night at Cardinal Gym in Fairmont. The Cardinals’ Grace Pendergast (11) and the Titans’ Ella Schmiesing (34) trail the action. (Photo by Greg Abel)

FAIRMONT — Back-to-back edge-of-the-bleachers victories.

Brylee Miller buried a pair of 3-pointers during a 3-minute overtime to cap her game-best 24 points and powered the Fairmont Cardinals to a 65-57 nonconference basketball triumph over the Tri-City United Titans on Friday night at Cardinal Gym.

Trailing 54-49 with two and a half minutes remaining in regulation, Fairmont’s fivesome of Nevaeh Rahm, Miller, Grace Pendergast, Kennedy Becker and Ellie Ortega triggered an 8-3 surge on the strength of smothering defense to close regulation knotted a 57-all.

Miller, who produced a game-high double-double performance by grabbing 13 rebounds, won the extra session’s opening tipoff before netting two heart-of-the-net 3-pointers to ice the Cardinals’ second consecutive victory.

Pendergast connected on a buzzer-beating trey only two nights earlier in Fairmont to lift the Cardinals to a season-opening win over Windom Area.

“Junk (Junkermeier) said, ‘We’ve got 3 minutes, so go out and give it your all,’ and that’s what we did. We scored first and then got a big (defensive) stop at the other end,” said Miller, who scorched the Cardinal Gym nets on 9-for-14 field-goal shooting. “We were stronger down the stretch tonight after coach had us work on transitions in practice on Wednesday.

“Our spacing on the court was better and we found the seams in their defense.”

Miller swooshed a right-wing 3-pointer off a Rahm kickout pass to open the overtime before Pendergast returned the favor by spotting Rahm in the low post for a banked deuce. Pendergast then distributed the last of her game-best seven assists to Miller for a right-corner trey to put the game in the win column.

Rahm generated all 14 of her points during the second half to help trigger the Cardinals’ 29-22 edge on the scoreboard over the final 18 minutes. The senior post player also pulled down seven boards.

The two teams traded the lead four times during a seesaw opening half, with Fairmont trailing 35-28 by intermission.

Ortega’s low-post leaner off a Pendergast assist gave Fairmont a 21-17 lead, but Audrey Vosejpka and Alexis Marcussen served as the catalysts behind the Titans’ 9-0 pivotal run to grab a five-point edge.

Ella Schmiesing banked in a putback basket by garnering one of her team-best 11 rebounds before Marcussen delivered five unanswered points on the strength of a traditional 3-point play off a Vosejpka feed and a cutter to the post via a Schmiesing entry toss.

Vosejpka, who generated a double-double of 16 points and a game-best 10 steals to go with five assists, hit a follow shot to wide TCU’s lead to 26-21 with 3 minutes left before halftime.

Down 54-49 in the second half’s waning minutes, Rahm sank two free throws before hitting a low-post leaner off an Ava Terfehr entry pass. Ortega’s diving theft and flip to Terfehr ignited the play.

Pendergast used her dribble penetration to draw the Titans’ defense and dumped to Rahm for a low-post cutter to regain the lead at 55-54 for Fairmont with 51 seconds to go.

Gabriella Dahlke, however, converted a one-and-one situation at the 25.5-second mark to swing a one-point edge to TCU. Becker then hit a low-post leaner off a Rahm assist for a 57-56 edge with 5.3 seconds to go. Miller’s offensive rebound and baseline save proved key to the play.

Sophie Whipps then hit the front end of a one-and-one situation with 1.3 seconds remaining to tie the game and force overtime.

Fairmont (2-0) plays host to Waseca next Friday night in a Big South Conference game, while TCU (0-2) travels to Mayer Lutheran on Tuesday night.

TCU    35-22-0–57

FMT   28-29-8–65

FAIRMONT (65)

Rahm 4-9 6-10 14, Terfehr 2-7 2-2 6, H. Klanderud 1-2 2-2 5, Pendergast 0-7 2-4 2, Miller 9-14 3-4 24, Becker 4-6 0-0 10, Reyes 0-1 0-0 0, Ortega 2-4 0-0 4, Anderson 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 22-53 15-22 65.

TCU (57)

Marcussen 4-14 6-8 14, Whipps 3-8 1-2 8, Vosejpka 7-15 1-3 16, Dahlke 0-7 2-2 2, Schmiesing 4-6 0-0 8, Flintrop 2-7 0-0 4, Hennen 1-3 0-0 3, Cooper 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 22-62 10-15 57.

3-pointers: Fairmont 6-16 (Miller 3, Becker 2, H. Klanderud 1); TCU 3-15 (Whipps, Vosejpka and Hennen 1 each). Fouled out: None. Rebounds: Fairmont 37 (Miller 13); TCU 34 (Schmiesing 11). Assists: Fairmont 14 (Pendergast 7); TCU 14 (Vosejpka 5). Steals: TCU 17 (Vosejpka 10); Fairmont 15 (Pendergast 5, Ortega 4).

Makayla Lowry scored 14 points and teammate Emelia Klanderud produced eight points and 10 rebounds to guide Fairmont to a 27-24 win over TCU during B-squad action Friday night in Fairmont.

TCU edged Fairmont in C-squad action, 43-31, Friday night in Fairmont.

Abbie Simpson generated 17 points to pace the hometown Cardinals, while Mya Reyes delivered 11 points.

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Martin County West 55, Nicollet 42 — The Mavericks are off to a perfect 3-0 start.

Emily Anderson poured in a game-leading 27 points and grabbed seven rebounds to power MCW to a 55-42 Valley Conference victory over the Raiders on Friday night in Sherburn.

Courtney Anderson contributed seven points, four rebounds and three steals to the Mavericks’ winning ways, while Maddie Carlson collected six points, five rebounds and three steals.

Liv Borchardt supplied four points, seven boards and four assists to MCW’s winning cause, while Ella Carlson chipped in six points and seven rebounds.

The Mavericks connected on 24 of 58 shots from 2-point range.

Leah Bode tossed in a team-best 15 points for Nicollet, while Savannah Klockziem and Cheyenne Klockziem supplied 13 and nine points, respectively.

Martin County West (3-0) travels to Mankato Loyola on Monday night.

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Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman/Martin Luther 56, Alden-Conger/Glenville-Emmons 41 — Olivia Mattson produced 12 points to complement game-highs of nine rebounds and seven assists to engineer the Jaguars’ 15-point triumph over the Knights during Valley Conference action Friday night in Truman.

Bethany Petrowiak netted a team-best 13 points and pocketed four steals for the Jaguars, while McKenna Benck delivered 10 points and a game-high five steals.

Londyn Bowers chipped in eight points to the Jaguars’ winning ways, while Brianna Petrowiak pulled down six rebounds.

Macy Mattson generated 14 points to top the Knights’ effort, while Madison Mattson added 10 points.

The Jaguars (1-1) travel to Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial on Monday night for another Valley game.

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North Union 41, North Iowa 36 — Libby Stevens scored 16 points and pocketed a game-high six steals to help the Warriors stave off the Lady Bison by five during Top of Iowa Conference action Friday night in Armstrong.

Ainsley Ulrich connected for a game-leading three trifectas en route to 13 points to go with three assists for North Union, while Olivia Merrill tallied seven points and pulled down six boards.

Naomi Jones netted five points and garnered four steals for the Warriors, while teammate Shallie Walders chipped in five rebounds and three steals.

The Warriors hit 15 of 51 field goals overall, including 6 of 20 behind the 3-point arc, and 5 of 10 free throws on the night.

North Union (2-0) travels to Estherville-Lincoln Central on Monday night for a nonconference contest.