ABOVE: Fairmont's Makayla Lowry fires a shot over the Jackson County Central Huskies defense in a Big South Conference basketball game Friday night in Jackson.

JACKSON – The Fairmont Cardinals fell to a late push by the Jackson County Central Huskies, who were able to tie the game in the final three minutes and secure a 68-63 victory in the team’s second Big South Conference meeting on Friday

Fairmont dropped to 11-5 overall on the season with the loss and 7-4 in the conference. The Cardinals defeated the Huskies 68-48 earlier in the season in Fairmont.

“We knew it was going to be tough,” said Fairmont head coach Sara Junkermeier. “We knew we’d have to play a full game. We had moments where we did what we needed to and then we had others where we just weren’t quite ourselves. And you can’t have these against a quality opponent like Jackson.”

Leading the Cardinals was Brylee Miller with 21 points, while Ellie Ortega had 14 points. Gwyneth Schultz had 11 points, while Makayla Lowry had 10 points.

The first half opened with a quick exchange of baskets with a bucket coming off the hand of Maksypa Lowry. The teams continued to exchange baskets throughout the first four minutes of the half before a Cardinal timeout to reassess its defense was needed. Trying to cut into the Huskies’ lead, which currently sat at 12-5 coming out of the break, the Cardinals struggled from the free-throw line, but Gwyneth Schultz was able to stop the skid bringing things to 12-7.

Makayla Lowry and Ortega continued to hit their shots, helping Fairmont pull within 3 points, 20-17. Ortega continued to hit her shots, with the go-ahead bucket being a quick layup that was assisted by Becker going up 21-20. Fairmont continued to build on their lead with the combination of Schultz and Miller putting the Cardinals up 30-23 before another Huskies timeout. Miller’s hot hand from behind the arc continued to add to the Cardinal tally heading into the final minutes of the opening half and securing a 37-25 lead at the buzzer.

Ortega came out shooting in the second half for the Cardinals, going up 39-27 early. A couple of 3-pointers from the Huskies put them within 6 points, but Fairmont kept the Huskies at arm’s length as it jumped in front 45-37. Schultz found the bottom of the bucket more than once in rapid succession, but a quick run by the Huskies prompted a Cardinals timeout.

Lowry put the Cardinals back up by 10, 49-39, which was followed up by an Ortega bucket and a floater from Miller for a 53-42 lead. A 6-0 run put the Huskies back to within 4 points with about four minutes left on the clock and the score sitting at 59-55.

The Huskies began to rally back, tying things up at 61-61. The go-ahead bucket by Rylie Cother put the Huskies on top where they remained for the duration of the game up 67-61. The Cardinals netted 2 more points off a pair of Miller free throws before ultimately the buzzer sounded to secure the 68-63 JCC victory.

The Cardinals head to Luverne at 7:15 p.m. Monday.