ABOVE: The Fairmont girls basketball team poses with the second-place plaque after finishing second in the Section 3AA Tournament. Pictured left to right front: Cadence Montgomery, Norah Traetow, Ellie Ortega, Kennedy Becker, Carys Gudahl. Back Left to Right: Audrina Suckow, Bria Williamson, Makayla Lowry, Brylee Miller, Makenzie Lowry, Gwyneth Schultz, Emelia Klanderud, Lauren Zarling, Makenna Fischer. Sentinel file photo.

FAIRMONT – Early in the season, it was an expected rebuild year for the Fairmont Cardinals girls basketball team.

But what seemed like a fresh young roster turned into a Section 3AA powerhouse.

“The biggest challenges were just our lack of experience at the varsity level,” said Fairmont girls basketball coach Sara Junkermeier. “We had Brylee [Miller] and Ellie [Ortega] coming back, along with Kennedy [Becker] who was also coming back. She was getting minutes the previous year but just wasn’t in a starter role, and then everybody else was trying to figure out their role.”

Even with an inexperienced roster, the Cardinals won the season’s first four games before New Ulm handed them their first loss. Fairmont did not waste time returning to the win column, showing the squad’s resilience.

“We actually worked with Gwyneth [Schultz], and Bria [Williamson] played with us all summer,” said Junkermeier. “So they’ve gotten a lot of experience just through our summer tournaments and leagues that we went to. So that was a good jump start for them. The nice thing about this team is that everybody gets along and wants what’s best for everybody. I really felt that they

welcomed the freshmen in, and it just became such a cohesive unit. It was really fun to be a

part of.”

The stat sheet confirms the success of the Cardinals and how cohesive the team became as a unit. The Cardinals had a season total of 1792 points, 959 rebounds, 436 assists, 450 deflections, 441 steals, and 27 blocks. Averaging 61.8 points, 29 rebounds, 15 assists, 15.5 deflections, 15.2 steals, and just under a block per game.

In addition to being dominant defensively, Miller had several milestones during the season. Miller broke through the 1,000-point threshold this season before taking the leading scorer title for Fairmont girls’ basketball. Miller broke the record, which was sitting at 1,307 points, previously set by Ashley Alleven-Stensland in Fairmont’s victory over Redwood Valley on Feb. 6.

As the season progressed, it became clear that the team’s chemistry was growing rapidly. With the passing of each game, the players seemingly became increasingly in sync.

‘It’s hard to explain it,” said Junkermeier. “Because you really have to be there to see what it was like, but they love being together. Whether it was a light-hearted moment or something, you know, more serious and down to business, it was, this is what we’re here for, and we’re just going to make it happen. And that’s what they did from our youngest on the roster to our oldest.”

The Cardinals never lost more than one game in a row. Fairmont took every loss as an opportunity to focus on where the team needed to improve, and never became too focused on the postseason but stayed focused on the next game.

“I just look at it as one game at a time,” said Junkermeier. “You know, just this is what we have to do on this night in order to have the best chance of success. We put those plans together for the kids, and they were able to do what they needed to do, and we just kept kind of chipping away at that, and that’s how we ended up where we were.”

It was the one game at a time mentality that secured the subsection title and a Section Championship appearance for the Cardinals this season. The victory over Jackson County Central for this year’s Subsection Title sticks out for coach Junkermeier.

“It had to be when we beat Jackson in the subsection championship,” said Junkermeier. “Just the way we came out ready to play, and the support that we had from the fans, and the way we worked together. It was just fun from beginning to end, and we got everybody on the court, and it was just very, very exciting. They [the team] executed the game plan exactly like we had it set up, and that’s credit to them for taking responsibility for making sure those things happened, and doing what we needed to do.”

Fairmont finished the season 13-6 in conference play and 21-8 overall and brought home a second-place section tournament title. Now that the team has come together, it can be expected to see Fairmont return to form next season.