The Wildcats held Fairmont to seven empty possessions to aid the comeback, fueling a 61-54 victory that sends them to the 2026 Class AA Girls State Basketball Tournament held next week in Minneapolis.

“I just felt like we got too tight in the end,” Fairmont head coach Sara Junkermeier said. “We played loose the entire game, then down the stretch we just got real tight and sank both offensively and defensively. We gave up some huge transition layups and 3’s and you just can’t do that with a team like that.”

The New London-Spicer trio of Rutgers, Ayla Caskey and Korbin Tanner combined for 20 points during the last five minutes of gametime. Rutgers had a handful of outside shots, Tanner cleaned up the glass down low while Caskey flexed her versatility by nailing buckets at all three levels of the court.

“It was big time,” New London-Spicer head coach Mike Dreier said of his three leading scorers. “I don’t even know what to say.”

Photo by Jake Olson: Fairmont's Gwyneth Schultz powers through the New London-Spicer defense during the opening half of Thursday night's contest against New London-Spicer in Marshall. 

Fairmont’s Brylee Miller finished up her Cardinal basketball career with another dazzling performance. The senior stuffed the stat sheet with 24 points, 18 rebounds, four steals, four blocks and four assists.

Cardinal forward Bria Williamson joined Miller with a 20 point performance of her own, knocking down nine field goals with a pair of outside shots. Gwyneth Schultz notched eight points, four rebounds and two steals.

Junkermeier’s team brought energy and intensity on the defensive end to open things up. Her and the coaching staff put the Cardinals into a man-to-man concept with an emphasis on ball pressure and limiting dribble penetration. Through 10 minutes of gametime the Wildcats scored just six points.

The forced turnovers and missed shots charged Fairmont’s transition attack. Williamson capped off the opening 21-6 scoring surge after a Miller outlet pass found her underneath the hoop for an easy layup, prompting a Dreier timeout with 8:19 on the scoreboard.

Fairmont held onto this double figure lead for nearly the rest of the opening half, responding to every Wildcat basket with a nifty possession of their own. New London-Spicer ultimately cut into the deficit after Miller picked up her third foul on a Tanner post move.

Miller’s time off the court proved to be a factor on both sides of the ball. New London-Spicer’s 2-3 zone continued to bring pressure while the offense slowly found a rhythm. Caskey brought the Wildcats into the locker room down 31-24 after consecutive finishes at the rim.

The Cardinal maintained an advantage despite several Wildcat rallies. Buckets from Miller, Schultz and Madilyn Thompson kept Fairmont up nine points in the first eight minutes of the second half.

Even with consecutive scores from Tanner bringing the Wildcats within four, Fairmont once again ballooned the advantage with a relentless, fast-paced transition attack. Miller found Williamson for a layup before nailing four free throws that took the Cardinals to a 50-40 cushion.

Much of this rally was in credit to Junkermier’s decision to implement a 2-3 zone of her own at the nine minute mark. The change of pace stumbled New London-Spicer’s offense to a handful of misses and four turnovers.

Momentum shifted in an instant following the two Rutgers 3-pointers. Caskey found Rutgers the next possession to put the deficit to 52-48. A Williamson hook shot temporarily stopped the bleeding, but a floater from Tanner and a transition layup from Caskey forced a Junkermeier timeout with her team up 54-52.

Four consecutive Fairmont misses helped New London-Spicer continue to build their lead after Rutgers and Caskey nailed a pair of 3-pointers. Tanner put on the finishing touches with a putback layup to bring the Wildcat lead to 60-54.

The Cardinals end the season with a 28-3 record. This is the most wins a Fairmont girls team has seen in the past decade.

“I’m so glad that these kids wear red and white and that I’m a part of this team. There isn’t a greater group of kids to be around,” Junkermeier said. “I couldn’t be more proud of the things that they do every single day when it’s a really long season.”