By John RittenhouseThe Luverne girls’ basketball team put together its best week of the season by winning three games in a five-day span.The Cardinals saddled Redwood Valley with a 16-point setback in Luverne Friday before securing a five-point win at Edgerton Public School Monday. Luverne picked up its biggest prize by nipping Pipestone by two points in an overtime game played in Pipestone Tuesday.Luverne, 10-9 overall, shoots for its fourth straight win when they host Windom Friday. The Cards play in Adrian Tuesday.Luverne 66, Pipestone 64The Cardinals pulled off the biggest upset in Jason Phelps’ five-year tenure as head coach when they edged the Arrows by two points in Pipestone Tuesday.The teams battled to draws in the first and second halves. Luverne, however, used a 9-7 scoring edge in overtime to win by one."It was our biggest win since I’ve been here," admitted Phelps."We were playing on their court and on back-to-back nights with just six of our seven regular players. We played with a lot of composure the whole night."The score was tied at 29 at the intermission, and the Arrows opened a five-point cushion 13 minutes into the second half before Luverne’s Maggie Kuhlman tied the score at 57 with one layup in the final minute of regulation play.The Cards came up empty with two shots late in regulation play, but they scored the first three points in overtime and never lost the lead the rest of the night.Double-doubles from Mindy Nieuwboer (21 points and 11 rebounds) and Samantha Gacke (18 points and 11 rebounds) serve as the highlights of the win. Kuhlman added an 18-point, seven-assist effort.Box scoreKlein 0 1 0-0 3, Nieuwboer 4 2 7-8 21, Snyder 0 0 0-1 0, Kuhlman 1 4 4-6 18, Hoiland 0 1 3-4 6, Gacke 6 0 6-14 18.Team statisticsLuverne: 21 of 64 field goals (33 percent), 20 of 33 field goals (60 percent), 28 rebounds, 11 turnovers.Luverne 60, Edgerton 55An outstanding offensive performance in the first half carried the Cardinals to a five-point win in Edgerton Monday.Edgerton opened the game by playing zone defense and the Cardinals made them pay for the decision by shooting their way to a 43-25 halftime lead."We really shot the ball well in the first half. They were playing a zone, and we made five threes," said LHS coach Phelps.The Flying Dutchmen climbed back into the game in the second half, trailing by two points with 35 seconds remaining.Luverne’s Nieuwboer sank two free throws and Kuhlman added another in the final 30 seconds to secure a five-point win for the Cards.Erin Hoiland scored all 12 of her points in the first half for LHS. Kuhlman, who led the Cards with 16 points and four assists, added 10 points to the first-half charge.Gacke scored 11 points, collected eight rebounds and charted six steals for the Cards. Nieuwboer added eight rebounds to the winning effort.Box scoreKlein 3 1 0-0 9, Nieuwboer 3 0 2-3 8, Snyder 1 0 0-0 2, Kuhlman 3 3 1-3 16, Hoiland 3 2 0-0 12, Gacke 5 0 1-2 11, Vogt 0 0 2-2 2.Team statisticsLuverne: 24 of 52 field goals (46 percent), six of 12 free throws (50 percent), 30 rebounds, 10 turnovers.Luverne 67, RWV 51The Cardinals snapped a four-game losing skid and notched their third conference win of the season when they bested Redwood Valley by 16 points Friday in Luverne.Luverne, which lost a five-point game when they squared off against RWV in Redwood Falls in early January, fell behind 6-2 early in the rematch.The Cards, however, outscored the visitors 65-45 the rest of the night to win handily.Luverne answered RWV’s early spurt by going on a 28-11 run capped by a field goal from Gacke at the 3:53 mark of the first half to open a 30-17 lead.The Cards led by 12 points (32-20) at the intermission before using a 12-7 surge that ended with Hoiland canning a field goal at 14:18 of the second half to gain a 44-27 advantage.RWV trimmed the difference to seven points (46-39) with 10:33 left to play, but the Cards outscored the visitors 21-12 the rest of the night to win by 16.Gacke, who scored 15 of her game-high 23 points in the first half, snared six rebounds and blocked five shots for the winners.Kuhlman turned in a 10-point, eight-assist, five-steal effort for the Cards. Hoiland and Nieuwboer contributed seven and six rebounds respectively to the winning cause.Box scoreKlein 2 0 2-2 6, Nieuwboer 3 0 2-2 8, Snyder 2 0 1-3 5, Kuhlman 4 0 2-3 10, Hoiland 2 1 0-0 7, Vogt 3 0 2-2 8, Gacke 8 1 4-7 23.Team statisticsLuverne: 26 of 66 field goals (39 percent), 13 of 19 free throws (68 percent), 35 rebounds, 18 turnovers.RWV: 20 of 42 field goals (48 percent), five of nine free throws (48 percent), 11 rebounds, 17 turnovers.