ABOVE: Fairmont's Emelia Klanderud goes for a layup against the Blue Earth Area Buccaneers during a Big South Conference girls basketball game in Blue Earth Friday night.

BLUE EARTH – The Fairmont Cardinals girls basketball team (7-2) put on an impressive defensive performance in their game against the Blue Earth Area Buccaneers (0-9) on Friday night, securing a 71-24 victory in a Big South Conference girls basketball game.

“We know they have good shooters and kids that like to get those shots up,” said Fairmont girls basketball head coach Sara Junkermeier. “We just decided that we weren’t going to let them have any easy looks and I thought we did a good job of taking that away.”

Leading the Cardinals was Brylee Miller with 19 points, while Gwyneth Schultz had 15 points. Ellie Ortega and Bria Williamson each had 14 points.

The scoring leaders for the Buccaneers were Elaena Schiltz with 6 points, while Lola Lundquist had 5 points. Jessica Moore and Emerson Weir each had 4 points.

Maintaining offensive control was a focus coming into this game against the Buccaneers.

“We just have worked on being able to penetrate under control,” said Junkermeier. “And then be able to kick it out to shooters and we knocked down some shots tonight and that definitely helps our inside game, too, and we can get a few from the outside.”

The first half was all Fairmont as a dominant defensive performance fueled the Cardinals’ offense. Miller opened the scoring with back-to-back 3-pointers and that combined with scoring from Ortega and Becker to put the Cardinals up 10-2 in the first two-and-a-half minutes. The Buccaneers drained a shot of their own but that was followed up by a 12-0 Cardinals run. The Cardinal defense held strong, allowing one bucket before a 20-0 run put the Cardinals up 44-11. Fairmont added 7 more points to close out the half 51-12.

The second half featured more of the same from the Cardinals as they allowed only 12 points while adding 20 of their own to the tally. Fairmont opened the second-half scoring by netting a quick 4 points before a foul sent the Buccaneers to the line for their first 2 points of the half to bring the score to 55-14. With 14:29 on the clock, the Buccaneers took a timeout to try and adjust to Fairmont’s defense.

Out of the timeout, Schiltz drove hard to the basket for a layup, drawing the foul and converting the 3-point play to bring the score to 60-19. An Ortega free throw kicked off a Cardinal 5-0 run before Blue Earth could answer with a Lundquist 3-pointer. A driving bucket from Schultz sent the Cardinals on a 6-0 run to take a 70-24 lead. The Cardinals continued to press for the final minute of the game until the final buzzer brought the game to a close 71-24.

The Cardinals’ next game is at Tri-City United at 7:15 p.m. on Tuesday and the Buccaneers head to Belle Plaine Tuesday at 7:15 p.m.