Luverne girls keep winning, earn top seed in upcoming section 3AA tournament

The Luverne girls’ basketball team wrapped up its regular season with a 20-4 overall record and a perfect 11-0 record in Section 3AA. 
That accomplishment as enough to earn the Cardinals the No. 1 seed in the Section 3AA-South tournament, which begins Saturday, Feb. 26. 
Luverne will host the No. 8-seeded Redwood Valley Cardinals (1-25) in the Luverne Classic Gym Saturday at 7 p.m. Luverne defeated Redwood Valley by scores of 87-28 and 67-14 earlier in the season. 
With a win, LHS will face the winner of Jackson County Central and St. James Area Tuesday at 6pm at a neutral location to be determined. 
Fairmont (20-3) is seeded second in the South sub-section. 
In the North sub-section, Montevideo (20-3) received the top seed with New London-Spicer (21-3) the No. 2 seed. 
According to Luverne head coach TJ Newgard, the section tournament should be competitive. 
"I think seven or eight teams have a legit chance of coming out of Section 3AA," Newgard said.
"With that much parity, I think it makes it really fun knowing you have a chance if you can string together four good games."
The Cardinals won their final two regular season games of the season last week by defeating Adrian-Ellsworth 64-27 Feb. 15 and Jackson County Central 57-47 Friday night.
 
Luverne 64, A-E 27
Luverne was able to mix up the usual lineup and offer significant playing to a variety of players during a comfortable 64-27 win in Adrian on Tuesday, Feb. 15. 
"Our regular starters only played five minutes," Newgard said. 
The Luverne lead was 10-0 three minutes into the game when the starters were first replaced with five new players. The Cardinals led 29-2 when the starters left the game for the last time. 
In all, 11 Cardinals scored in the contest and 13 players received playing time. 
LHS led Adrian-Ellsworth 43-10 at halftime. 
Emma Beyer led the balanced scoring effort with nine points. Dennie Sandbulte, Elizabeth Wagner and Madee Schmuck had eight points each. 
Sandbulte also led the team with six rebounds. 
 
Box Score:
C. Wagner 1 0 0-0 2, Beyer 3 1 0-0 9, Ver Steeg 2 0 2-2 6, Sehr 0 0 0-0 0, E. Wagner 4 0 0-2 8, Stegenga 2 1 0-0 7, Sandelte 2 0 2-3 8, John 0 0 2-2 2, Smith 0 0 0-0 0, Serie 3 0 0-0 6, Hansen 0 2 0-0 6, Schmuck 4 0 0-0 8, Jadyn Hart 1 0 0-0 2
 
Team Stats:
Luverne: 27 of 49 (55 percent), 6 of 9 free throws (67 percent), 30 rebounds, 14 turnovers
Adrian-Ellsworth: 10 of 43 (23 percent), 7 of 16 (44 percent), 31 rebounds, 20 turnovers
 
Luverne 57, JCC 47
The Cardinals won their seventh game in a row when they defeated the Jackson County Central Huskies 57-47 in Jackson Friday night. 
It was a close contest in the first half, with the teams tied at 20 with three minutes remaining before half time before the Cardinals took a 23-20 lead into the locker room.
Luverne outscored the Huskies 34-27 in the second half to secure the victory in the regular season finale. 
Brooklynn Ver Steeg led the offense for LHS with 17 points. Christina Wagner and Beyer added nine points each. 
Kira John collected 16 rebounds and scored eight points in the game. 
"We played through some foul trouble and picked up a nice conference win on the road," Newgard said of the victory over JCC. 
 
Box Score:
C. Wagner 3 1 0-0 9, Beyer 4 0 1-1 9, Ver Steeg 3 1 8-10 17, Sehr 2 0 1-4 5, E. Wagner 3 0 0-1 6, Stegenga 0 1 0-0 3, John 4 0 0-0 8, Hansen 0 0 0-1 0, Schmuck 0 0 0-0 0
 
Team Stats:
13 of 59 (22 percent), 16 of 27 free throws (59 percent), 33 rebounds, 12 turnovers
Section 3AA-South Tournament
Round 1
All games Feb. 26 at 7 p.m.
#8 Redwood Valley at #1 Luverne
#5 St James Area at #6 Jackson County Central
#6 Windom Area at #3 Minnesota Valley Lutheran
#7 Pipestone Area at #2 Fairmont