By John RittenhouseThe Luverne girls’ basketball team locked up its first winning season in eight years by defeating Jackson County Central Tuesday night in Luverne.The win was preceded by a nine-point home loss to St. James, a team the Cardinals could meet in the second round of the South Section 3AA Tournament.Luverne drew the third seed for the section event. The 13-10 Cardinals host No. 6 Redwood Valley in a quarterfinal-round that begins at 7 p.m. Saturday.Luverne 43, JCC 38The Cardinals clinched their first winning season since the 1997-98 campaign when they bested the Huskies by five points in Luverne Tuesday.Playing the game without senior leader Maggie Kuhlman, who is nursing a knee injury sustained during Saturday’s game against St. James, LHS had to pull together as a team to knock off JCC.The Cardinals got the job done by overcoming a two-point (21-19) halftime deficit by outscoring the Huskies 24-17 in the final 18 minutes of play."It’s great to have a winning season, but I would like to see it carry over into the playoffs," said LHS coach Jason Phelps."We worked hard to get to this point, and now we’ll see if we can win a couple of games in the playoffs."Tuesday’s game was up for grabs until the final two minutes, when fate seemed to favor the Cards.After LHS missed two free throws down the stretch, Gacke rebounded both misses and turned them into field goals to put the Cards in front to stay.Gacke finished the game with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Mindy Nieuwboer led LHS with 14 points.Box scoreKlein 0 1 5-10 8, Nieuwboer 1 2 6-7 14, Snyder 3 0 2-3 8, Vogt 1 0 0-0 2, Gacke 3 1 2-5 11, Hoiland 0 0 0-0 0.Team statisticsLuverne: 12 of 42 field goals (29 percent), 15 of 25 free throws (60 percent), 33 rebounds, 15 turnovers.JCC: 16 of 48 field goals (33 percent), five of 10 free throws (50 percent), 29 rebounds, 20 turnovers.SJ 59, Luverne 50The visiting Saints snapped Luverne’s five-game winning streak when the teams squared off in Luverne for a Saturday afternoon tilt.In what could be a preview of a South Section 3AA Tournament semifinal clash, Luverne made an early statement by taking a 24-19 lead in the first half.St. James, however, outscored the Cards 40-26 in the second half to win by nine.The Saints led 5-3 early in the game before Luverne countered with a 12-4 surge capped by a three-point shot from Alyssa Klein at the 5:37 mark of the first half to give the hosts a 15-9 advantage.After the Saints knotted the score at 19, Luverne received a field goal from Gacke and a three-point shot from Maggie Kuhlman in the final minute of the first half to gain a five-point halftime cushion.Luverne led by three (28-25) when Nieuwboer drained a pair of free throws at 13:17 of the second half, but the rest of the game belonged to SJ.The Saints used a 30-12 run to open a 55-40 lead with 2:08 remaining before settling for a nine point win.Klein led the Cards with 10 points, four steals and three assists in the game. Nieuwboer collected nine rebounds. Gacke had five rebounds and blocked three shots.Box scoreKlein 3 1 1-2 10, Nieuwboer 3 0 3-5 9, Snyder 4 0 1-2 9, Kuhlman 0 3 0-0 9, Hoiland 1 0 2-2 4, Vogt 1 0 0-0 2, Gacke 3 0 1-4 7.Team statisticsLuverne: 19 of 57 field goals (33 percent), eight of 15 free throws (53 percent), 28 rebounds, 17 turnovers.SJ: 21 of 40 field goals (53 percent), 15 of 24 free throws (63 percent).