Staff Photo by Jake Olson: Fairmont's Bria Williamson drives baseline during the first half of the Cardinals contest against Pipestone Area. Williamson led all scorers with 20 points after knocking down four shots from outside the perimeter.

FAIRMONT – Sara Junkermeier needed to change something. The Fairmont girls basketball head coach saw her team’s previous 20-point halftime lead get shaved to four with seven minutes left in regulation. Deciding to give Pipestone Area a different look, her and the coaching staff put the Cardinals into a 2-3 zone defensive scheme to hopefully change the pace of play.

After scoring just six points all half, Junkermeier’s team strung together a handful of stops that catapulted the Fairmont offense to a 17-point surge over the next four minutes, giving the Cardinals a 53-30 cushion that eventually led to their seventh win of the season.

“We never gave up,” Junkermeier said. “That’s hard to do when it starts going against you. It’s really easy to give up, but we never did. We just kept going.”

Fairmont’s Bria Williamson led all scorers with 20 points after knocking down four shots from the perimeter. Brylee Miller stuffed the stat sheet with 13 points, six steals and six rebounds, while Gwyneth Schultz chipped in 10 points, respectively.

An and-one layup from Jadyn Kor put an exclamation point on the Arrows 22-6 run since the beginning of the second half, cutting the deficit to 34-30 heading into a head coach Grant Everson timeout. Pipestone Area’s full court pressure and zone defensive scheme was doing everything right in slowing down Fairmont’s typical run-and-gun style of play.

The key to getting back into an offensive rhythm started on the defensive end, generating missed shots and steals to open up looks on the other end. Fairmont’s zone was able to do that.

“We say it has to start on the defensive end,” Junkermeier said. “It just shows when you buy into that, it makes your offense easier, and the girls completely buy into that.”

A Makenzie Lowry layup began a run that seemed to never end for the Pipestone Area defense. Emelia Klanderud and Bria Williamson nailed consecutive corner 3-pointers before back-to-back transition layups from Miller furthered the lead.

Miller and Williamson each drained another perimeter shot that gave way to Fairmont’s 23 point lead. The Cardinals scored the game’s final six points to ultimately put a stamp on this victory, 63-38, continuing the season with a perfect 7-0 record heading into the holiday break.

“Making them [Pipestone Area’s zone] shift is what we said we had to work on,” Junkermeier said. “When we went on that run in the second half, we didn’t really score on the inside, it was just moving the ball around the perimeter, get it in for one touch and kick it back out.”

Fairmont’s initial lead came from a focused effort defensively, forcing the Arrows into six turnovers during the opening five minutes of the contest. Pipestone Area finished the half making just three field goals while going on multiple scoring droughts.

Scoring for the Cardinals came from a strong effort by Williamson off the bench. The sophomore knocked down a couple of threes, found herself as the aggressor on the glass, and notched 14-points to fuel Fairmont’s 28-8 cushion at intermission.

“She stepped up,” Junkermeier said. “She’s played a lot of varsity minutes for us, last year as a freshman and now also. This is the most confidence I’ve seen her play with. If we can get her playing like that every game, that’s just a huge boost for us.”

Fairmont will continue its season on Monday, Dec 29, competing in a three team tournament at Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial.