LHS girls' basketball teams adds three in the win column, now 18-4

The Luverne girls’ basketball team moved its season record to 18-4 after three more wins last week.
The Cards defeated Pipestone Area 61-35 on Feb. 8, Windom Area 81-39 on Feb. 10 and Montevideo 47-45 on Saturday.
Luverne was scheduled to play in Adrian Tuesday night after this edition of the Star Herald went to press.
The Cardinals will travel to Jackson to face the Huskies in a rescheduled game on Friday night.
LHS will wrap up its regular season schedule on Tuesday (Feb. 22) when Edgerton Public comes to the Luverne Classic Gym.
Luverne and Fairmont will likely vie for the top seed of Section 3AA -South when the playoffs begin.
As of Feb. 14, the Luverne Cardinals are 10-0 against Section 3AA teams and 18-4 overall. The Fairmont Cardinals are 7-1 in section play and 19-3 overall. Luverne defeated Fairmont 45-39 on Dec. 4.
Section 3AA playoffs begin Saturday, Feb. 26. 
 
Luverne 61,
Pipestone Area 35
It wasn't the usual competitive contest between the Cardinals and the Arrows when Luverne traveled to Pipestone Tuesday, Feb. 8.
Luverne led from the start, held a commanding 28-16 lead at halftime and outscored the Arrows even more (33-19) in the second half to earn the 61-35 road victory over their rivals.
The Cardinals were led by Elizabeth Wagner with 28 points and 14 rebounds in the contest.
Kira John tallied 11 points and nine rebounds.
The Luverne defense held the Arrows to 26 percent shooting from the field, including just three of 18 two-point attempts.
The Cardinals also dominated the boards, with 40 total rebounds compared to 21 by the Arrows.
 
Box score:
C. Wagner 0 1 0-0 3, Ver Steeg 3 0 0-0 6, Sehr 0 1 1-2 4, E. Wagner 11 1 3-6 28, Stegenga 1 0 0-1 2, Jocelyn Hart 0 0 0-0 0, John 5 0 1-3 11, Smith 1 0 0-0 2, Serie 0 0 0-0 0, Hansen 0 1 0-0 3, Jadyn Hart 1 0 0-0 2
 
Team stats:
Luverne: 26 of 57 (46 percent), 5 of 12 free throws (42 percent), 40 rebounds, 10 turnovers
Pipestone Area: 10 of 39 (26 percent), 8 of 11 free throws (73 percent), 21 rebounds, 16 turnovers
 
Luverne 81,
Windom Area 39
The Cardinal girls opened up the girl/boy basketball doubleheader in Windom on Feb. 10 with a commanding 81-39 victory over the host Eagles.
Luverne’s balanced offense included 21 two-point field goals, 10 three-pointers and nine free throws with eight different players scoring.
“We started out really slow, but once we got going, we were able to get out in front by a wide margin and get everyone some playing time,” said Luverne head coach TJ Newgard.
Elizabeth Wagner led all scorers with 24 points in the game.
Sophomore Sarah Stegenga was a perfect five-for-five from behind the three-point line, scoring 15 points.
Christina Wagner scored 13 points and tallied five rebounds.
Luverne led 47-25 at halftime and outscored the Eagles 34-14 in the second half to secure the 42-point victory.
 
Box score:
C. Wagner 2 2 3-4 13, Beyer 0 0 0-0 0, Ver Steeg 3 1 0-4 9, Sehr 1 2 0-0 8, E. Wagner 9 0 6-7 24, Stegenga 0 5 0-0 15, John 3 0 0-1 6, Smith 0 0 0-0 0, Serie 0 0 0-0 0, Voorhees 0 0 0-0 0, Hansen 1 0 0-0 2, Schmuck 2 0 0-0 4, Jadyn Hart 0 0 0-0 0
 
Team stats:
Luverne: 31 of 54 (57 percent), 9 of 16 free throws (56 percent), 25 rebounds, 8 turnovers
Windom Area: 13 of 38 (34 percent), 3 of 4 free throws (75 percent), 26 rebounds, 29 turnovers
 
Luverne 47,
Montevideo 45
Luverne picked up an impressive Section 3AA win when the Cardinals defeated the Montevideo Thunder Hawks 47-45 at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall Saturday night.
The game had a playoff feel, and playoff seeding implications, when Luverne, one of the top teams in Section 3AA-South with a 17-4 record, faced one of the top teams from Section 3AA - North, Montevideo with a 17-2 record, on the neutral university court.
“Montevideo is one of the top two teams in the north part of our section so we knew it was going to be a tough game,” Newgard said.
“Anytime you play against a 6’3” D1 commit (Avery Koenen, committed to NDSU), you know you are going to have your hands full,” Newgard said. “We did an excellent job on her, holding her to seven points.”
The Thunder Hawks held a close 27-25 advantage at the half. LHS outscored Montevideo 22-18 in the second half to earn the 47-45 win.
With the victory, Luverne moved to 18-4 on the season while Montevideo went to 17-3.
The two teams were even throughout, with Luverne shooting 39 percent from the field and Montevideo shooting 38 percent.
The Cardinals outshot the Thunder Hawks at the free throw line.
Luverne was 15 of 24 from the line, while Montevideo shot five of ten.
“They were hot from the perimeter early, but the girls stuck to the game plan and made some big free throws down the stretch,” Newgard said.
Montevideo led 45-44 with about one minute remaining when junior Emma Beyer made two of two free throws to take a 46-45 Luverne lead.
Christina Wagner then made one of two free throws to move the lead to 47-45.
When the Hawks missed a last-second three-point shot and Averill Sehr got the rebound, Luverne’s close, two-point victory was sealed.
Brooklynn Ver Steeg led the scoring for the Cardinals with 15 points. Elizabeth Wagner tallied 12 points while Christina Wagner added 11 points.
 
Box score:
C.Wagner 2 2 1-4 11, Beyer 0 0 2-2 2, Ver Steeg 3 1 6-9 15, Sehr 0 0 2-2 2, E. Wagner 3 1 3-5 12, John 2 0 1-2 5
 
Team stats:
Luverne: 14 of 36 (39 percent), 15 of 24 free throws (63 percent), 24 rebounds, 8 turnovers
Montevideo: 16 of 42 (38 percent), 5 of 10 free throws (50 percent), 31 rebounds, 11 turnovers.