Luverne senior Rachel Tofteland splits a pair of Worthington defenders while driving to the basket during Saturday’s Section 3AA Girls’ Basketball Tournament game in Marshall. Tofteland led the Cardinals with eight points during a season-ending 70-29 setback.
By John Rittenhouse
The 2002-03 basketball season came to an end for Luverne with a loss during the quarterfinal round of the South Section 3AA Girls’ Basketball Tournament Saturday at Southwest State University in Marshall.
The eighth-seeded Cardinals received a tough draw as they faced No. 1 Worthington in the tourney opener.
Luverne played with the Trojans for one quarter, but the team’s upset bid came up short as Worthington outscored the Cards 51-21 in the final three quarters to prevail 70-29.
Senior Serena Franken gave the Cards a 2-0 lead with a field goal 29 seconds into the game before Worthington countered with a 6-0 run to move in front by four points (6-2).
Luverne battled back to knot the score at eight when Maggie Kuhlman capped a 6-2 surge with a three-point shot at the 1:58 mark of the first quarter, and Cardinal Brittney Williams tied the game at 11 with a three with 1:12 remaining in the opening stanza.
Worthington, however, went on an 8-0 run in the final minute of the first quarter to open a 19-11 cushion at period’s end.
Luverne pulled within five points (21-16) of the Trojans when Tera Boomgaarden drained a jumper at the 6:54 mark of the second period. The difference remained at five points (21-16) when Worthington went on a 9-0 run to take a 30-16 lead as the period progressed. Luverne trimmed the difference to 12 points twice, but the Trojans moved in front by 16 (36-20) by halftime.
Worthington went on a 13-1 run to start the third quarter and went on to outscore the Cards 25-5 in the period to lead 61-25 heading into the final stanza.
The Trojans pushed the final margin of victory to 41 points by outscoring LHS 9-4 in the fourth quarter.
Luverne, which ends the season with a 3-20 record, received eight points from Rachel Tofteland.
Box score
Williams 0 1 0-0 3, Snyder 0 0 0-0 0, Boomgaarden 3 0 0-0 6, Tofteland 2 0 4-8 8, Lysne 0 0 0-0 0, Klosterbuer 0 0 0-0 0, Franken 1 0 1-2 3, Stewart 1 0 0-1 2, Loosbrock 1 0 0-0 2, Pinkal 0 0 0-0 0, Kuhlman 0 1 2-2 5, Nieuwboer 0 0 0-0 0.
