The Luverne girls’ basketball team opened the 2021-22 campaign with three consecutive wins within five days.
The Cardinals defeated Mountain Lake Area 78-40 Nov. 30, Pipestone Area 56-53 Dec. 2 and Fairmont 45-39 Dec. 4.
“It was a busy week,” LHS head coach TJ Newgard said.
“We have been tested early in the season, playing two of the top teams in our subsection (Pipestone Area and Fairmont),” Newgard said.
“We haven’t played particularly well, but we have found a way to win, which is huge.”
Newgard said the challenging start is what he expected from his team’s schedule.
“I have stressed that things aren’t going to be pretty and aren’t going to go like they want to in the beginning of the season, but it’s important to have a short memory and be able to move on,” Newgard said.
Luverne hosted Jackson County Central Dec. 7, will play at Southwest Minnesota Christian Friday, and will host Hills-Beaver Creek Tuesday.
Luverne 78, MLA 40
The Cardinals opened their season by traveling to Mountain Lake to take on the Wolverines Nov. 30.
Luverne had little trouble dispatching the home team, taking a commanding 41-15 lead into halftime. When the visitors added 37 more points in the second half, the Cardinals came away with the decisive 78-40 road victory.
Averill Sehr led the Cardinal offense with 19 points and the defense with 12 steals in the game. Emma Beyer had 14 points and Elizabeth Wagner added 12 points in the contest.
Elizabeth Wagner recorded 12 rebounds while Kira John collected five.
In total, twelve Cardinals saw playing time in the game with 10 players scoring points.
Luverne 56, Pipestone Area 53
The Pipestone Area Arrows came to Luverne for the Cardinals’ home-opener Dec. 2.
The contest between the two rivals was close throughout with the outcome undecided until the last minute of the game.
Luverne outscored the Arrows in the first half, taking a 26-21 lead into the locker room. When the Arrows outscored the Cardinals in the second half 32-30, the game could have gone either way.
The Cardinals had built a 12-point 48-36 lead with 7:40 remaining in the game, but Pipestone Area slowly but surely chipped away at the lead.
With 11 seconds left in the contest, Pipestone narrowed the Luverne lead to five points, 56-51. When the Arrows scored a field goal with 3.5 seconds remaining, the game became a one possession lead for Luverne 56-53.
When an inbound violation on Luverne was called by the officials, Pipestone Area got the ball and a chance to tie the game. When the Arrows failed to score the last second shot, Luverne came away with the 56-53 victory.
Elizabeth Wagner led the Cardinals with 19 points and added seven rebounds. Brooklynn Ver Steeg scored 11 points and recorded nine rebounds.
Luverne 45, Fairmont 39
Luverne faced its second subsection foe in three days when the team traveled to New Ulm Saturday afternoon to play Fairmont in a Big South Conference crossover contest.
And for the second time in three days, the Cardinals came out on top, this time defeating the Fairmont Cardinals 45-39 to remain undefeated and set their season record at 3-0.
Elizabeth Wagner led the offense for Luverne with 15 points. Kira John and Averill Sehr contributed 12 and nine points respectively.
John had seven rebounds, while Elizabeth Wagner tallied six boards.