By Mark HaugenThe Cardinals turned in a consistent performance Friday night and notched their second win in a row, beating Redwood Valley 56-46 in Luverne.Luverne wasn’t as fortunate on Tuesday night as they ran into another consistent team and lost 67-50 to JCC in Luverne.Luverne, 2-7, plays at Westbrook-Walnut Grove on Thursday.Luverne 56, Redwood Valley 46The Cardinals’ Maggie Kuhlman had the hot hand from outside, hitting four 3-pointers on her way to tallying 26 points on the night. The 5-6 junior also had five assists, four rebounds and two steals.Samantha Gacke had 11 points and led with eight rebounds."We played one of our most consistent games of the season," Coach Jason Phelps said. "We had very few scoring droughts and had a season low in turnovers (15)."Luverne trailed 12-10 after the first quarter and pulled to a 28-22 halftime lead it never relinquished. The Cardinals outrebounded Redwood Valley 26-18."We got a very good offensive effort from Maggie and a well-rounded game from Samantha," he said. "It was a very good team effort defensively and rebounding. It was nice to get a couple of wins in a row and hopefully build some confidence on the past week."Luverne Box ScoreHeitkamp 1 0-0 2, Nieuwboer 2 3-5 7, Snyder 4 0-1 8, Petersen 0 0-2 0, Kuhlman 5 4 4-8 26, Gacke 3 5-7 11, Evans 1 0-0 2, Schneekloth 0 0-0 0.Team Totals:2-pt shooting: L 16-40 for 40 percent. 3-pt shooting: 4-8 for 50 percent. Rebounds: L 26 (Gacke 8, Nieuwboer 6). Assists: L 10 (Kuhlman 5, Nieuwboer 4). Steals: L 12 (Snyder 5). Blocks: L 1 (Snyder).JCC 67, Luverne 50Luverne took a 13-12 first-quarter lead but couldn’t hold it as they trailed 39-32 at halftime.Kuhlman scored 14 points for Luverne, had five rebounds, four assists and four steals. Gacke netted 13 and pulled down seven boards.We had trouble stopping a very balanced attack by JCC," Phelps said.JCC had four players in double figures."We got behind after a scoring drought in the second quarter and could never get enough defensive stops to get back into the game."We had a balanced attack ourselves but couldn’t outscore them after falling behind. We gave up too many second chance points, especially in the second half."Luverne Box ScoreHeitkamp 2 0-0 4, Nieuwboer 1 0-0 2, Snyder 1 4-44 4, Petersen 1 0-2 2, Kuhlman 5 1 1-5 14, Gacke 6 1-4 13, Evans 2 5-6 9, Schneekloth 0 0-0 0.Team Totals:2-pt shooting: L 18-42 for 42.9 percent. 3-pt shooting: L 1-9 for 11.1 percent. Rebounds: L 25 (Gacke 7, Kuhlman 5, Heitkamp 5). Steals: L 9 (Kuhlman 4). TO: L 16.
