By John RittenhouseThe Luverne girls’ basketball team was unable to snap what now stands as a six-game losing streak after playing two Southwest Conference opponents on the road.Worthington toppled the Cardinals by 30 points Friday in Worthington. Luverne fell by 23 points in Windom Tuesday.Luverne, 4-17 overall, hosts Jackson County Central Friday before ending the regular season in Adrian Monday.Windom 71, Luverne 48The Cardinals remained in striking distance of the SWC opponent for three quarters before falling off the pace in the final eight minutes of play Tuesday in Windom.Luverne sported slim leads in the first five minutes of the first quarter before falling behind by five points (18-13) at period’s end.Windom led by seven (31-24) at the intermission and sported a 46-36 lead late in the third quarter when an Eagle stole an in-bounds pass and sank a three-point shot at the buzzer to make it 49-36. The late shot seemed to spark the hosts in the fourth quarter as they outscored LHS 22-12 to win by 23."We played well enough to hang around," said LHS coach Jason Phelps. "When they hit a three-point at the end of the third quarter, it really seemed to get us down."Maggie Kuhlman led the Cards with 16 points and three steals. Danielle Loosbrock swept 11 rebounds off the boards. Mindy Nieuwboer scored 11 points for LHS.Box scoreWilliams 0 0 0-0 0, Heitkamp 0 0 0-0 0, Boomgaarden 4 0 0-0 8, Nieuwboer 4 0 3-4 11, Snyder 1 0 0-0 2, Kuhlman 3 3 1-2 16, Stewart 0 0 0-0 0, Gacke 2 0 1-2 5, Loosbrock 3 0 0-0 6.Team statisticsLuverne: 20 of 53 field goals (38 percent), five of eight free throws (63 percent), 25 rebounds, 12 turnovers.Windom: 27 of 57 field goals (47 percent), 11 of 15 free throws (73 percent), 31 rebounds, eight turnovers.Worthington 63,Luverne 33A strong defensive performance by the home-standing Trojans set the stage for a 30-point victory over the Cardinals Friday in Worthington.Worthington’s pressure defense forced the Cardinals to cough the ball up 30 times in the first three quarters and 37 times in the game. The turnovers led to some easy baskets for the hosts in what ended as a convincing victory."You have to give Worthington credit because it has great athletes," said Cardinal coach Phelps. "I thought we could handle the ball against their pressure, but we were making what I consider to be early-season mistakes."The Trojans led 18-8 after eight minutes of play before going on a 22-5 run in the second quarter to open a 40-13 halftime advantage. Worthington outscored LHS 12-5 in the third quarter to take a 52-17 lead into the final eight minutes of play, when Luverne used a 16-11 scoring advantage to trim the final margin of Worthington’s victory to 30 points.Kuhlman led the Cards with seven points and four steals. Samantha Gacke pulled down eight rebounds for LHS.Box scoreWilliams 0 0 1-4 1, Heitkamp 0 0 0-0 0, Boomgaarden 1 0 0-0 2, Nieuwboer 2 0 0-0 4, Snyder 2 0 2-6 6, Peterson 0 0 0-0 0, Kuhlman 2 1 0-0 7, Stewart 2 0 0-0 4, Gacke 1 0 1-2 3, Evans 1 0 0-0 2, Loosbrock 1 0 2-2 4, VanDeBerg 0 0 0-0 0.Team statisticsLuverne: 13 of 45 field goals (29 percent), six of 14 free throws (43 percent), 25 rebounds, 37 turnovers.Worthington: 24 of 51 field goals (47 percent), 12 of 23 free throws (52 percent), 35 rebounds, 15 turnovers.
