By John RittenhouseThree strong efforts turned in by the Luverne girls basketball team were unable to produce one win.The Cardinals lost a four-point home decision to Pipestone Thursday before falling by five points in Windom Friday. Luverne traveled to Fulda Tuesday, where it ended up on the short end of a nine-point decision.The 4-16 Cardinals play in Jackson tonight before ending the regular season with a home game against Adrian Tuesday.Fulda 57, Luverne 48A 24-point performance by Fulda senior Abby Oakland proved to be too much for the Cardinals to overcome in Fulda Tuesday.Playing in her final home game, Oakland hit five three-point shots and made come crucial free throws down the stretch to erase any chance of a Luverne upset."Oakland was playing her final home game and she took it upon herself to show us that she’s a pretty good player. She was the difference in the game," said LHS coach Jason Phelps.Luverne got off to a good start by taking a 14-6 lead in the first quarter. Fulda, however, moved in front 27-25 by halftime and put the game away by outscoring the Cards 16-5 in the third quarter to open a 43-31 cushion.Mindy Nieuwboer scored a team-high 16 points for Luverne. Samantha Gacke bagged 11 rebounds and blocked four shots. Maggie Kuhlman served up seven assists.Box scoreKlein 0 0 0-0 0, Heitkamp 0 0 0-0 0, Hanson 0 0 0-0 0, Nieuwboer 6 1 1-1 16, Snyder 0 2 0-0 6, Peterson 0 0 0-0 0, Kuhlman 0 2 1-2 7, Hoiland 0 2 0-0 6, Gacke 1 0 5-10 7, Evans 3 0 0-0 6.Team statisticsLuverne: 17 of 49 field goals (34 percent), seven of 13 free throws (53 percent), 24 rebounds, 14 turnovers.Windom 55,Luverne 50A late challenge by the Cardinals came up short when they challenged the Eagles in Windom Friday.Trailing 39-23 entering the final eight minutes of play, Luverne battled back to trim the difference to three points with 1:30 remaining. Windom, however, thwarted Luverne’s comeback attempt to win the game by five points."We only missed one shot in the fourth quarter," said Cardinal coach Phelps. "The girls didn’t quit. We gave ourselves a chance to win in the fourth quarter."Luverne, which trailed 35-18 at the intermission, received a 13-point, six-rebound performance from Gacke.Kuhlman, who passed for five assists and charted three steals, scored all 13 of her points in the fourth quarter. Nieuwboer added four assists to Luverne’s effort.Box scoreKlein 0 0 0-0 0, Heitkamp 3 0 0-0 6, Hanson 0 0 1-2 1, Nieuwboer 4 0 0-0 8, Snyder 1 0 1-2 3, Peterson 0 0 0-0 0, Kuhlman 2 3 0-1 13, Hoiland 2 1 1-2 8, Vogt 0 0 0-0 0, Gacke 6 0 1-1 13, Evans 2 0 0-0 4.Team statisticsLuverne: 21 of 53 field goals (40 percent), four of eight free throws (50 percent), 15 rebounds, 20 turnovers.Pipestone 51,Luverne 47The Cardinals let a potential conference win slip away when they challenged the Arrows in Luverne Thursday.Luverne traded blows with Pipestone most of the game, but sub-par shooting from the free-throw line (11 of 28) and costly turnovers at inopportune times by the hosts helped Pipestone escape with a four-point win."Unforced errors and missed free-throw opportunities, especially in the first half, hurt us," said LHS coach Phelps. "We had a chance to lead at halftime, but we missed too many free throws."Luverne started fast and led 7-2 when Tori Snyder drained a pair of free throws at the 3:51 mark of the first period before Pipestone scored six straight points to take an 8-7 edge.The Cards regained the lead at 9-8 when Traci Evans converted a field goal to cap the scoring in the first quarter, and the hosts led by five (17-12) when Erin Hoiland delivered a three-point shot with 5:11 remaining in the second quarter. Luverne, however, was unable to cash in at the charity stripe as the second period progressed, allowing Pipestone to gain a 23-22 halftime edge.The Arrows led 27-26 in the third quarter before going on a 9-1 run to end the period and take a 36-27 lead into the final eight minutes of play.Luverne regrouped to knot the score at 43 when Gacke converted a field goal with 1:29 left to play, but the Arrows outscored the hosts 8-4 the rest of the win to prevail by four.Gacke led the Cards with 15 points, nine rebounds and three steals. Kuhlman scored 14 points and charted three assists. Nieuwboer collected seven rebounds. Snyder delivered four assists.Box scoreHeitkamp 0 0 0-0 0, Nieuwboer 1 1 2-4 7, Snyder 1 0 2-8 4, Peterson 0 0 0-0 0, Kuhlman 2 2 4-8 14, Hoiland 0 1 0-1 3, Gacke 6 0 3-6 15, Evans 2 0 0-0 4.Team statisticsLuverne: 16 of 58 field goals (28 percent), 11 of 28 free throws (39 percent), 28 rebounds, 12 turnovers.
