ABOVE: Fairmont's Gwyneth Schultz looks for an open teammate as the Minnewaska defenders converge in the Section 3AA championship Thursday night in Marshall.

MARSHALL – A defensive battle between the Fairmont Cardinals and the Minnewaska Area Lakers girls basketball team saw the Lakers crowned the Section 3AA champions as they defeated the Cardinals 53-38 Thursday night at Southwest Minnesota State University.

“I can’t tell you how wonderful these kids are,” said Fairmont head coach Sara Junkermeier. “And that is something that can never be taken away from us, just what we do together and how we work, and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

Leading the Cardinals was Brylee Miller with 16 points, while Ellie Ortega had 11 points. Kennedy Becker had 7 points, while Gwyneth Schultz and Bria Williamson each had 2 points.

“We didn’t handle their pressure well,” said Junkermeier. “Instead of getting ourselves into the sets that we usually can run, we didn’t do that because of the pressure. We knew it was going to be a thing, but we just didn’t handle it like I felt we could have.”

Fairmont opened the first half scoring fast after Miller won the tip-off and drove through the paint for a layup. The Cardinals regained possession quickly and it was Miller scoring again, this time drawing contact but powering through to drain the bucket. Schultz was the next to join the scoring, knocking down a shot to put the Cardinals up 6-0. Addyson Kath struck first for the Lakers, draining a shot from behind the arc to cut the Cardinals’ lead in half.

In response, Kennedy Becker sunk a shot that started a 9-0 run for Fairmont, which ended with a 3-pointer by Becker to put the Cardinals up 15-3. With 7:01 left on the first-half clock, the Cardinals took their first timeout and tried to regroup from a 5-0 run by the Lakers. Coming out of the huddle, Miller hit a shot to reopen the scoring for Fairmont, but it was followed by a Megan Thorfinnson 3-pointer that triggered a 9-0 run by the Lakers to tie things up 21-21. Ortega drew a foul and sank a free throw before the Lakers scored again to take a 23-22 lead at the half.

The Cardinals came out fired up in the second half, going on a quick 6-0 run to retake the lead 28-23. Two quick buckets from Olivia Danielson prompted another Fairmont timeout, but when play resumed Danielson struck again to swing the momentum back in Minnewaska’s favor, putting them up 29-28.

Williamson drained a mid-range shot, but the Lakers’ response was a 5-0 run. Miller knocked down two buckets of her own, prompting a Minnewaska timeout with 6:45 left on the clock. The full-court press and double-teaming the ball handler slowed the Cardinals’ scoring for just over two minutes. At this point, Minnewaska shifted gears to drain the clock, enabling them to lock in the victory.

“They took away our transition offense,” said Junkermeier. “That’s been what we’ve done all season, and when they took that away, we weren’t able to settle in and do what we needed to do to be patient in the frontcourt.”

The Cardinals end their season with a 21-8 record.