LEROY — The Cardinals used a fast start and gutsy second half to put away Grand Meadow 43-39 in a girls basketball game Tuesday.

The Cards (2-1 overall, 1-0 SEC) held Grand Meadow to just one point in the last eight minutes as they put together a late 7-0 run to take a 43-38 lead with 2:58 left in the game. Rachel Rosedahl hit one of her five threes on the night to put L/O up for good at 41-38 with just under four minutes left in the game.

“If I’m open I like to shoot,” said Rosedahl, who finished with 18 points, six rebounds, and three assists. “Some nights they go in and some nights they don’t. Tonight just happened to be a good night.”

The Superlarks (0-1 overall, 0-1 SEC) pulled to within three on a free throw by Bailey Gomer, but they missed two potential game-tying treys in the late seconds.

“We’ve got a number of girls that can shoot,” GM head coach Dawn Baudoin said. “We just need to settle down. We were hurrying some shots.”

L/O iced the game when Kallie Osmundson rebounded her own missed free throw, was fouled and hit the ensuing free throw to make it 43-39 with 10 seconds left.

The Cards had jumped out to an 11-1 lead with 13 minutes left in the first half as Rosedahl drilled two threes in the first five minutes.

“You’re the home team and you’ve got all that energy and that is good,” L/O head coach Russ Foster said. “But that energy kind of stopped and we let them back in it. I’m a little disappointed that we had them by the throat and let them back in it. But Grand Meadow’s a great basketball team and they’re gonna come back.”

GM rallied back with forward Jessica Benson sitting on the bench for a long stretch with two fouls. The Larks led twice in the first half, and Bailey Gomer tied it up at 23 with a buzzer beating three right before the break.

“I don’t think it really hurt us sitting Jess,” Baudoin said. “I decided if we could stay close without her I couldn’t afford to lose her late in the game. I might second guess that because she got real cold for a while, but we needed her in the second half.”

The undersized Cards battled back by hitting the boards. Kaylee Bunne had a key putback score to pull the Cards within 38-37 with 7:50 left in the game, and Maggie Olson grabbed a key offensive board that led to a free throw with three minutes left in the game.

Most impressive was L/O’s 5-foot, 7-inch forward Mac Bunne, who pulled down 11 boards and scored 11 points, despite guarding GM’s Ashley Wilson, who is 6-1.

“I pretty much just tried to push her out and get position,” Mac Bunne said.

Another key for the Cardinals is they held Benson to 12 points.

“Jessica is the best player I’ve coached against. She’s gonna have another huge year,” Foster said. “We did a good job on her, but I wouldn’t want to be the next team that plays them.”

Baudoin said her squad, which is the favorite to repeat as SEC champs, will regroup.

“You hate to start losing the conference opener like this, but we’ve got 25 games ahead of us. It doesn’t make or break us,” she said.

GM 23 16 — 39

L/O 23 20 — 43

LeRoy/Ostrander scoring: Rachel Rosedahl, 18; Mac Bunne, 11; Kaylee Bunne, 7; Kallie Osmundson, 4; Mary Scaglione, 2; Maggie Olson, 1

Free throws: 40 percent (4-for-10); rebounds: 38 (Mac Bunne, 11; Kaylee Bunne, 7); turnovers: 19

Grand Meadow scoring: Jessica Benson, 12; Bailey Gomer, 12; Ashley Wilson, 8; Alex Swanson, 3; Andrea Swanson, 2; Abbie Fay, 2

Free throws: 29 percent (2-for-7); rebounds: 34 (Benson, 11, Fay, 9); turnovers: 13