ONALASKA — With a handful of people ready to take their spots in the Luther Basketball Hall of Fame, the school’s girls basketball team turned in a big second half to beat Cashton 60-25 and set up a proper postgame celebration on Saturday.
The Knights (14-8) won their fifth game in a row and for the seventh in in their past eight by dominating the second half and allowing the Eagles just 11 points after halftime.
That led into a celebration for new HOF members Ken Stratman (posthumously), Jessica Rohde (Stratman), Elisabeth Janke (Babinec) and Bennett Loersch.
Sophomore Jaeyda Livingston scored a team-high 12 points for Luther, which plays another nonconference game Monday against visiting Central (16-5), which is ranked 10th in Division 2 for this week’s Bound Wisconsin/Zaleski Sports media poll.
The Knights took some time to find their rhythm against the Eagles, but coach Ryan Svendsen was just happy things turned around after his team made it to the half with a 28-14 lead.
“We’ve been a team lately that has needed the first half as a ‘find it’ period,” Svendsen said. “But we’ve been able to turn it on the second half.
“Some of that might just be youth, or maybe it’s that we’re playing tournament-style ball that everyone is getting ready for, but they’ve been very good at finding the answers.”
Luther gave itself some breathing room by closing out the first half with an 11-3 run that included five points from sophomore Carsyn Krause in the final minute.
The Knights then scored 13 of the first 16 second-half points — Cara Unke, Mackenzie Torgerud and Addy Palubicki each made a 3-pointer in that span — to separate for good.
Sophomore Tessa Gloede added 10 points for Luther, which is one game out of the Coulee Conference lead with one left to play. The Knights (8-3) trail Arcadia (9-2) and close out their regular season against G-E-T (2-9). The Raiders close out against Viroqua (8-3), meaning Luther and Viroqua wins that night create a four-way tie for the championship with West Salem already at 9-3.
