It’s hard to beat a team three times in a season. That old adage rang true Saturday, March 20, when the Luverne Cardinals hosted the Windom Eagles in the section tournament.
Luverne defeated Windom during the regular season, 86-65 and 72-63.
In the third meeting, it was the Eagles coming out on top 63-56 to end Luverne’s season sooner than expected.
Gannon Ahrendt split a pair of free throws to open the game to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead. The Cards held that lead until the second half.
Jayson Rops made the first basket of the game to put Luverne up 3-0. A Bailey Cowell three-pointer put the Cardinals up 6-2.
A Cowell three-point play put the Cardinals up 17-10.
Rops put the Cardinals up 21-10 after he knocked down a jumper.
An Ethan Beyer three-pointer put the Cardinals up 27-14.
Beyer hit another three-pointer to put the Cardinals up 33-23.
The Eagles hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to trim Luverne’s halftime lead to 35-28.
That three-point shot was part of an 18-4 Windom scoring run that led to the Eagles taking a 41-39 lead.
The Eagles took their first lead of the game with 11 minutes left in regulation.
An Ahrendt bucket tied the game back up at 41-41. The Cardinals knocked down a three-pointer to go up 44-41.
The Eagles went on a 7-0 run to take a 48-44 lead.
Beyer knocked down a three-pointer to trim Windom’s lead to 53-51.
With 50.7 seconds left in the game, Ahrendt knocked down a three-pointer to trim Windom’s lead to 59-56. Unfortunately for the Cardinals that would be the last made basket of the season, as the Eagles held on to win 63-56.
Ahrendt led the Cardinals with 16 points.
Cowell finished the game with 12 points.
Beyer knocked down three three-pointers and finished the game with 11 points.
Rops reached double figures with 10 points.
With the loss, the Cardinals finished the season with a 14-4 record.
It marked the final game for eight seniors, Cowell, Rops, Beyer, LaShad Smith, Kaden DeSollar, Benjamin Jarchow, and Justin Dolhmann.
“It’s rare to have eight seniors that stick it out all the way through and I’m really proud of all of them,” Luverne head coach John Sichmeller said.
“Some of them played a lot and some a little, but they were all equally important to our program. They were a really fun group of kids that brought energy and effort every day to practice and games. Most importantly they’re all really good kids.”
LHS 35 21 56
Windom 28 35 63
Scoring: Ahrendt 16; Cowell 12; Beyer 11; Rops 10
Rebounds: Cole-Kraty 8
Assists: Cole-Kraty 3
Blocks: Ahrendt 3