By John RittenhouseThe Luverne girls advanced to the championship game of the Luverne Cardinal Basketball Holiday Classic by defeating the Southwest Star Concept Quasars 48-36 during Thursday’s semifinals.Luverne overcame a sluggish offensive performance with balanced scoring and an outstanding effort at the charity stripe. The Cards made 80 percent of their free throws and outscored SSC 20-2 at the line."We won the game at the line," said LHS coach Phelps."They played a zone defense, and we didn’t get into a very good offensive flow. We did have nice balance in scoring and gave a good defensive effort."The teams exchanged leads in the early stages of the game before the Cards opened a 21-14 halftime advantage.Luverne cashed in on its free throws late in the game to outscore SSC 28-24 in the second half to win by 11.Mindy Nieuwboer scored 13 points, collected seven rebounds and charted six steals for LHS. Maggie Kuhlman chipped in 13 points and five assists. Samantha Gacke recorded a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.Box scoreKlein 1 0 2-2 4, Nieuwboer 2 1 6-6 13, Snyder 0 0 4-6 4, Kuhlman 1 2 5-5 13, Hoiland 0 0 0-2 0, Vogt 1 0 2-2 4, Gacke 5 0 1-2 11.Team statisticsLuverne: 13 of 61 field goals (21 percent), 20 of 25 free throws (80 percent), 26 rebounds, 10 turnovers.SSC: 18 of 51 field goals (35 percent), two of three free throws (67 percent).