pounding on Luverne in Area 4

By KEVIN PEARCEY

Sports Writer

LUVERNE – Someone had to pay for the Goshen Eagles Tuesday night loss to cross-county rival Pike County and Area opponent Luverne was the perfect victim.

The Eagles got their first win of the millennium Friday night against the home standing Tigers in dominating fashion, 75-46, to improve to 6-2 on the season and more importantly 1-0 in a very tough Class 3A Area 4.

Luverne held the lead just twice in the first quarter, before a 3-pointer by freshman Kendaris Pelton gave the Eagles the lead for good.

After missing action against the Bulldogs Tuesday, Pelton stepped in against Luverne and didn’t miss a beat as he contributed 15 points to the Eagles win.

Up by just five at the end of the first, Goshen turned on the afterburners and went on to out score the Tigers by an amazing margin of 29-11 in the second. The explosion by the Eagles allowed them to take a comfortable 46-23 lead into the locker room.

Senior Willie Darby had 10 of his team-high, 16 points during the Eagles’ second period onslaught. Junior center Jamar Tucker was his usual dominating self on the inside, grabbing board after board, and finishing with 13 points of his own.

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In the girls’ varsity game, Goshen’s Lady Eagles were only a couple of plays away from grabbing their first victory of the season, but the Luverne Lady Tigers hit key shots down the stretch to hand Goshen a 38-34 loss and drop them to 0-8 on the year.

In a game that saw numerous lead changes, April McDonald was the deciding factor for Luverne as she scored nine of her game-high 20 points in the fourth period of play.

McDonald missed the second shot of a one-and-one late in the fourth quarter, but got the rebound to put it up for two and give the Lady Tigers a five point lead in the closing minutes of the game.

Goshen’s only answer for McDonald was Kayla Ellis who had 12 points to lead the Eagles.

It doesn’t slow up for either Eagle team from here. After playing Louisville last night Goshen gets a day of rest Sunday then they must play Monday then travel to face Calhoun who hold the No. 9 position in boys and No. 4 in girls Class 3A state rankings.