SCRAMBLE — Fairmont’s Olivia Ortega (third from left) battles St. Peter’s Kylie Southworth (front left) and the Saints’ Annika Southworth (back left) for possession of the basketball during Big South Conference action Friday night at Cardinal Gym in Fairmont. The Cardinals’ Ava Terfehr (24), Grace Pendergast (11) and Kate Busche (far right), along with the Saints’ Emmy Remmert (20), observe the hardwood court scramble. (Photo by Greg Abel)

FAIRMONT — Fairmont’s 35-day improvement nearly slammed the brakes on St. Peter’s impressive eight-game winning streak during Friday night’s Big South Conference girls basketball clash.

Brylee Miller’s second-half 3-point shooting and Nevaeh Rahm’s low-post presence had the hometown Cardinals teetering on the brink of victory with one minute remaining in regulation.

St. Peter eighth-grade guard Kylie Southworth’s steal and accompanying two free throws, however, tied the game at 41-all with 31.4 seconds to go in the second half to eventually force overtime in Fairmont.

Minnesota State University-Mankato basketball commit Rhyan Holmgren and Annika Southworth combined for 11 of St. Peter’s 13 points during the 4-minute extra session to fend off upset-minded Fairmont, 54-48.

“I don’t believe in moral victories and I definitely don’t like losing, but taking St. Peter to overtime proves we can play with one of the best teams in this area,” said Fairmont head coach Sara Junkermeier, whose lineup outscored St. Peter 21-14 in the second half to erase a 27-20 deficit at intermission. “They beat us by 33 back on Jan. 6 in St. Peter, so for us to play them this close is a positive to build on.

“Just sheer determination by our players tonight.”

Miller, who matched Grace Pendergast for the Cardinals’ team lead with 14 points apiece, utilized the long-distance arc to swing a 28-27 lead to the home team at the 13 1/2-minute mark of the second segment.

Pendergast, who also pocketed four steals, opened the latter half with a 12-foot pull-up jumper before Miller converted assists from Olivia Ortega and Pendergast into back-to-back 3-pointers.

Kylie Southworth, who came off the bench to toss in nine points, sank a solo free throw to finally end the Saints’ second-half scoring drought at the 11-minute mark.

“We were able to force quite a number of turnovers (27) with our (full-court) press, but we couldn’t convert those into points,” said St. Peter head coach Bob Southworth, whose lineup prevented a loss by sinking 19 of 28 free throws compared to just a 4-for-6 performance at the line by Fairmont. “Kylie made a pair of pivotal free throws in the waning seconds of regulation to get us into the overtime, and then Rhyan took over from that point and scored seven in the extra session to seal the win.”

Rahm, who generated 10 points and grabbed six rebounds, converted a Miller entry pass for a key cutter in the lane to produce the eighth of 10 total ties on the game at 37-all with 3:44 left in the second half.

Jazlyn Geerdes then banked home a putback basket to give the Cardinals a 39-37 lead a minute later before Holmgren floated home a cross-over low-post move for two of her game-best 19 points to knot the game for a ninth time at 39 with 1:49 to go.

Rahm muscled her way into the low blocks only 19 seconds later for a 41-39 lead, but Kylie Southworth’s backcourt steal and ensuing two free throws deadlocked the game one last time with 31.4 seconds remaining. Holmgren then prevented Fairmont from getting one last shot by swiping the basketball with only 4.1 seconds left in regulation.

Pendergast nailed a left-wing 3-pointer to stake the Cardinals to the early lead in overtime, but Annika Southworth answered with two free throws for the Saints.

Rahm converted a one-and-one situation for Fairmont 30 seconds later only to have Holmgren and St. Peter teammate Maddie Kamm connect for a runner and two free throws, respectively, to swing a 47-46 lead to the Saints with 1:48 remaining in the extra session.

Holmgren then reeled off five unanswered points, with Annika Southworth garnering a key steal with 36 seconds remaining and the Saints ahead 52-46. Rahm followed with a sweeping half-hook, but Annika Southworth capped her 11-point performance with two free throws with 1.6 seconds left.

Holmgren also garnered six steals to complement her game-best 19-point performance for St. Peter, while Kamm pocketed a game-high eight steals to go with nine points.

Fairmont (12-9) travels to St. James Area on Tuesday night, while St. Peter (15-5) plays host to Class AA No. 1-ranked Providence Academy at 3 p.m. today.

St. Peter     27-14-13–54

Fairmont   20-21- 7–48

FAIRMONT (48)

K. Busche 0-2 0-0 0, O. Ortega 1-4 0-0 2, Cihoski 1-2 0-1 2, Pendergast 5-11 2-2 14, Miller 5-12 0-0 14, Rahm 4-10 2-3 10, Terfehr 0-3 0-0 0, E. Ortega 1-2 0-0 2, Geerdes 2-3 0-0 4. Totals 19-52 4-6 48.

ST. PETER (54)

Kamm 3-9 3-4 9, A. Southworth 2-11 6-6 11, Holmgren 7-21 5-12 19, Remmert 2-5 0-0 4, Maloney 0-0 2-2 2, Oeltjenbruns 0-2 0-0 0, K. Southworth 2-5 3-4 9. Totals 16-53 19-28 54.

3-pointers: Fairmont 6-14 (Miller 4-9, Pendergast 2-4, K. Busche 0-1); St. Peter 3-18 (K. Southworth 2-5, A. Southworth 1-7, Holmgren 0-5, Oeltjenbruns 0-1). Fouled out: K. Busche. Rebounds: Fairmont 37 (Miller 9); St. Peter 30 (Remmert 14). Assists: Fairmont 7 (O. Ortega 3); New Ulm 5. Steals: St. Peter 19 (Kamm 8, Holmgren 6); Fairmont 11 (Pendergast 4).

Kennedy Becker scored nine points and Tiffany Lowry netted five points and grabbed seven rebounds to top Fairmont’s 30-26 victory over St. Peter during B-squad action Friday night.

Danika Eisenmenger contributed five points to the Cardinals’ winning ways.

Emelia Klanderud tossed in a game-best 15 points to steer Fairmont to a 41-23 triumph over St. Peter during C-squad play on Friday night in Fairmont.

Kayla Lowry added eight points to the Cardinals’ winning ways.