Luverne senior guard Tera Boomgaarden puts up a shot during the third-place game of the Cardinal Girls’ Basketball Holiday Classic Dec. 30. Boomgaarden scored two points during a 58-44 victory over Lake Benton.By John RittenhouseThe Luverne girls’ basketball team went 1-2 while playing three games since Tuesday, Dec. 30.The Cardinals beat Lake Benton in the third-place game of the Cardinal Girls’ Basketball Holiday Classic Dec. 30 before dropping 26- and 14-point road decisions to Jackson County Central and Madison, S.D., Saturday and Tuesday respectively.Luverne, 3-7 overall, plays in Redwood Falls Friday and in Lennox, S.D., Saturday before hosting Windom Tuesday.Madison 56,Luverne 42The Cardinals let a game slip away in the second half Tuesday in Madison, S.D.After battling Madison to a draw at 26 in the first half, Luverne was outscored 30-16 in the second half of what ended as a 14-point loss."Rebounding was a big difference in the second half," said Cardinal coach Jason Phelps. "They got a lot of second chances and scored some easy baskets against us. We also went cold shooting, and they made some free throws."Madison opened a five-point lead (40-35) by the end of the third quarter before icing the game with a 16-7 scoring cushion in the final eight minutes of play.Luverne led 13-12 at the end of the first quarter and settled for a deadlock at 27 at the intermission.Danielle Loosbrock led the Cards with 12 points and five rebounds. Samantha Gacke blocked three shots and passed for three assists. Maggie Kuhlman added three assists and three steals to the cause.Box scoreWilliams 0 0 2-2 2, Heitkamp 0 1 0-2 3, Boomgaarden 1 0 0-0 2, Nieuwboer 2 0 1-2 5, Snyder 0 0 0-4 0, Peterson 0 0 0-0 0, Kuhlman 2 0 2-2 6, Stewart 1 1 1-4 6, Gacke 2 0 2-2 6, Evans 0 0 0-0 0, Loosbrock 6 0 0-0 12, VanDeBerg 0 0 0-0 0.Team statisticsLuverne: 19 of 46 field goals (41 percent), eight of 16 free throws (50 percent), 27 rebounds, 14 turnovers.Madison: 19 of 45 field goals (42 percent), 16 of 25 free throws (64 percent), 36 rebounds, 17 turnovers.JCC 52, Luverne 26The Cardinals resumed conference play by losing a 26-point decision in Jackson Saturday.A strong defensive performance by the Huskies limited Luverne to 20 percent shooting from the field, and that set the stage for the hosts being able to double Luverne’s scoring output."We had to work for everything we got, and they got a lot more easy baskets than we did," said Cardinal coach Phelps. "JCC seemed to be a step faster than the teams we’ve been playing recently. It kind of was a rude awakening for us heading back into conference play."JCC led 11-7 at the end of eight minutes of play before increasing the difference to 12 points (24-12) after outscoring LHS 13-5 in the second quarter. The Huskies led by 20 points (39-19) at the end of the third quarter before prevailing by 26 at game’s end.Kuhlman led Luverne with 12 points and three steals. Mindy Nieuwboer, Marissa Stewart and Gacke collected four rebounds each for the Cards.Box scoreWilliams 0 0 1-3 1, Heitkamp 0 0 0-0 0, Boomgaarden 0 0 0-0 0, Nieuwboer 1 0 4-7 6, Snyder 0 0 1-2 1, Peterson 0 0 0-0 0, Kuhlman 2 2 2-2 12, Stewart 0 0 0-3 0, Gacke 1 0 0-1 2, Evans 1 0 0-0 2, Loosbrock 1 0 0-0 2, VanDeBerg 0 0 0-0 0.Team statisticsLuverne: eight of 40 field goals (20 percent), eight of 18 free throws (44 percent), 25 rebounds, 29 turnovers.JCC: 21 of 56 field goals (38 percent), nine of 21 free throws (43 percent), 29 rebounds, 15 turnovers.Luverne 58, LB 44The Cardinals locked up third place in their annual tournament by besting the Bobcats by 14 points in Luverne Tuesday, Dec. 30.The game was up for grabs after 16 minutes of play, but the Cardinals outscored LB 28-19 in the second half to win handily.Luverne led 30-25 heading into what proved to be a decisive third quarter.The Bobcats trimmed the lead down to three points twice in the first two minutes of the second half, but the Cards countered with an 11-0 run capped by a pair of free throws by Gacke at the 1:21 mark of the third period to open a 47-30 lead.LB closed the gap to 16 points (49-33) by the end of the third quarter, and trailed by 14 points twice in the fourth quarter before the Cards put the game away by opening a 57-38 cushion with less than two minutes left to play.The Bobcats outscored the Cards 6-1 in the final two minutes to fall by 14 points in the end.The game’s first half was much more competitive.After sporting two- and one-point leads early in the game, the Cards found themselves facing a 9-6 deficit before Tera Boomgaarden capped a 4-0 spurt with a field goal to give the hosts a 10-9 edge.Lake Benton battled back to regain a 14-13 lead by period’s end.The Bobcats sported a 16-15 advantage when Luverne grabbed the lead for good with a 9-0 run capped by a field goal from Loosbrock with 3:48 remaining in the first half that gave the hosts a 24-16 lead.LB trimmed the difference to four points (26-22) late in the period and trailed by five (30-25) at period’s end.Loosbrock and Kuhlman pumped in 14 points each to lead the Cards in scoring. Gacke added 10 points.Loosbrock collected seven rebounds and passed for four assissts, while Kuhlman came up with four assists and six steals.Nieuwboer added six rebounds to the winning cause. Tori Snyder chipped in four steals.Box scoreWilliams 0 0 0-0 0, Heitkamp 1 0 0-0 2, Boomgaarden 1 0 0-2 2, Nieuwboer 3 0 0-0 6, Snyder 1 0 0-0 2, Peterson 0 0 0-0 0, Kuhlman 4 2 0-0 14, Stewart 2 0 2-4 6, Gacke 3 0 4-5 10, Evans 0 0 0-1 0, Loosbrock 7 0 0-0 14, VanDeBerg 0 0 0-0 0.Team statisticsLuverne: 25 of 63 field goals (40 percent), six of 12 free throws (50 percent), 34 rebounds, 19 turnovers.LB: 14 of 62 field goals (23 percent), 10 of 25 free throws (40 percent), 28 rebounds, 23 turnovers.
