ONALASKA — Luther High School sophomore Cara Unke wasn’t intimidated with a game against the first-place team in the Coulee Conference on the line Friday night.
Unke took the ball from one end of the floor to the other with her Knights trailing West Salem by one point and dropped in a runner to beat the buzzer and give Luther a big 51-50 victory over the visiting Panthers.
On Thursday afternoon, West Salem and Viroqua were tied for first place in the Coulee, but the Knights (11-8 overall, 6-3 Coulee) beat the Blackhawks on Thursday and the Panthers on Friday to put themselves in the title picture with three games left to play.
Unke’s winner dropped the Panthers to 12-7 overall and 8-2 in the conference. Arcadia is at 14-7 and 8-2, and Viroqua sits at 13-5 and 7-2. That leaves the Knights 1 1/2 games out of the lead with remaining conference games against Black River Falls, Westby and G-E-T. Catching up won’t be easy, but Luther gave itself a chance by knocking off the top dogs on consecutive days.
Sophomores Natalie Hackbarth and Carsyn Krause scored 12 points each to lead the Knights to their fourth win in five games. Sophomore Jaeyda Livingston added nine, Unke eight, and Hackbarth made a pair of 3-pointers.
The Panthers were led by senior Josie Brudos and her three 3-pointers and 21 points. She has scored 56 points in her last two games.
Sophomore Ava Hendrickson scored 10 of her 14 points in the second half, and sophomore Anna Witte finished with 10 points for West Salem.
Holmen 60, Sparta 54
SPARTA — The Vikings (12-6, 5-4 MVC) won their second game in a row and completed a season sweep of the Spartans.
Sophomore Aspyn Archer made five 3-pointers and scored 19 points to lead Holmen, which held a 22-21 halftime advantage.
Seniors Macy Kline and Charley Casey each added 12 points for the Vikings. They scored 18 of those points in the second half.
Caledonia 81, La Crescent-Hokah 47
LA CRESCENT — Senior Aubrie Klug made seven 3-pointers and scored a team-high 28 points for the Warriors (18-6, 7-0 Three Rivers-East).
Freshman Ashlyn Reinhart added 12 points and senior Nicole Banse nine for Caledonia, which is one win away from a perfect run through the division season and closes out the regular season by hosting Holmen on Monday and Fillmore Central on Thursday.
Alma/Pepin 59, Melrose-Mindoro 32
PEPIN — The Mustangs had a three-game win streak snapped and saw their overall and Dairyland-Large records fall to 10-10 and 8-8.
