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The Luverne girls’ basketball team picked up two big conference wins at home this past week.
The Cardinals beat Fairmont 70-45 Feb. 2 and St. James 55-40 the next night, Feb. 3
Luverne is now 16-2 for the season with a conference record of 12-0.
LHS was scheduled to go on the road to take on Martin County West Tuesday, Feb. 7, then host Adrian Thursday, Feb. 9, and travel to Canby Friday, Feb. 10.
LHS 70, Fairmont 45
The LHS girls’ basketball team hosted conference opponent Fairmont, beating them 70-45 Thursday, Feb. 2.
“I thought the first half was the best half of basketball we have played all year,” head coach TJ Newgard said.
“We really overwhelmed them with our pressure. We did not allow them to get comfortable and really dictated the pace of the game.”
Luverne shot 64 percent inside, sinking 19 of 30 attempts and 63 percent on 3-point shots.
“Averill was lights out going 6-6 from three. When she is looking for her shot and being aggressive, we are at our best,” Newgard said.
If senior Elizabeth Wagner wasn’t on the floor scrambling for the ball, she was scoring 29 points.
Wagner grabbed eight rebounds, had two assists, one steal and blocked three shots.
Senior Averill Sehr was on fire, sinking six 3-pointers for 18 points.
Sehr also had two rebounds, two assists and three steals.
Junior Kiesli Smith added seven points and one rebound.
Senior Emma Beyer scored five points, nabbed three rebounds, had three assists and three steals.
Senior Christina Wagner made four points, grabbed three rebounds, posted one assist, two steals and two blocked shots.
Other Luverne players scoring in the game were senior Jocelyn Hart with three points and juniors Sarah Stegenga and Dennie Sandbulte each with two points.
Defensively junior Kira John had two rebounds and two blocked shots while classmate Tori Serie added one rebound and one blocked shot.
LHS 55, St. James 40
The LHS girls’ basketball team took on conference opponent St. James Friday, Feb. 3, in Luverne.
The Cardinals beat the Saints in a low-scoring game 55-40.
“St James came into the game on a five-game winning streak, and we knew they would be dangerous,” Newgard said.
“They average 67 points per game, so holding them to 40 is really good.”
Newgard added, “I love how this team can win games scoring in the 70s or 80s but can also grind out games in the 40s and 50s.”
Elizabeth Wagner had a great night. She made 21 points, grabbed nine rebounds, had one assist and five steals.
In the game, Wagner passed Brooklynn VerSteeg (2022 grad) for the all-time scoring record.
VerSteeg held the record with 1263 career points. Wagner posted 1277 at the end of the game.
Senior Emma Beyer made two of five 3-pointers in her eight-point game.
Beyer also had three rebounds, one assist and one steal.
John was busy under the net grabbing 13 rebounds for LHS.
She also added seven points, five assists, four steals and two blocked shots.
Christina Wagner had seven big steals in the game against the Saints.
She also posted seven points, three rebounds and one assist.
Sehr netted seven points, had one rebound, three assists and two steals.
Jocelyn Hart came off the bench making five points, two rebounds, two assists and one steal.