Luverne guard Maggie Kuhlman protects a rebound she snared during Saturday’s girls’ basketball game against Redwood Valley in Luverne. Kuhlman scored eight points during a 48-43 loss to the RWV Cardinals.By John RittenhouseThe Luverne girls were unable to break into the win column in Southwest Conference basketball play when they entertained Redwood Valley Saturday.RWV opened an 11-point lead in the first half and withstood a late challenge by the hosts to defeat the Cardinals 48-43.The loss, Luverne’s fourth straight, leaves the Cards with an 0-9 league record. The 4-15 Luverne squad plays in Worthington Friday and in Windom Tuesday.The game was tied at two six minutes into the game when RWV scored eight unanswered points in the next two minutes to take a 10-2 advantage into the second quarter.RWV led 13-2 after scoring the first three points of the second quarter, but Luverne put together a 6-1 spurt capped by a pair of free throws from Mindy Nieuwboer at the 6:00 mark to make it a 14-8 game. RWV outscored the Cards 8-3 the rest of the period to sport a 22-11 advantage at the intermission.The visitors led by 15 points (28-13) early in the third quarter before Luverne mounted a 12-3 run that ended with Marissa Stewart draining a three-point shot with 51 seconds remaining to make it a 31-25 game.RWV scored the final two points of the third quarter to take a 33-25 lead into the final stanza, but Luverne scored the first seven points of the quarter and trailed 33-32 when Nieuwboer sank two free throws with 6:04 left to play.Luverne trailed by one point two more times as the period progressed, with the last time being at 42-41 when Tori Snyder converted a layup with 1:48 left to play. RWV, however, outscored the Cards 6-2 the rest of the way to win by five.Maggie Kuhlman led the Cards with eight points and four steals in the game. Samantha Gacke and Danielle Loosbrock collected seven and six rebounds respectively. Snyder charted three assists.Box scoreHeitkamp 1 0 0-0 2, Boomgaarden 2 0 0-1 4, Nieuwboer 0 0 7-8 7, Snyder 2 0 2-6 6, Kuhlman 4 0 0-0 8, Stewart 0 1 1-3 4, Gacke 2 0 2-8 6, Evans 1 0 0-0 2, Loosbrock 1 0 2-4 4.Team statisticsLuverne: 14 of 45 field goals (31 percent), 14 of 30 free throws (47 percent), 31 rebounds, 26 turnovers.RWV: 14 of 42 field goals (36 percent), 11 of 20 free throws (55 percent), 35 rebounds, 30 turnovers.
