By Ella-Kate Tomlin
Special to The Luverne Journal

Both the Luverne School Tiger varsity girls and boys basketball teams took on the Zion Chapel Rebels Jan. 5 as their first area game of the season.

The Luverne varsity boys defeated Zion Chapel 50-41 in a high-energy game. Omar Crumbley was the leading scorer with 26 points as well as seven rebounds, two assists and two steals. Following their win, the Tigers have a winning record sitting at 8-5 for the season.

Head Coach, Richard Dorsey, expressed pride in the team’s performances.

“All of our area games are very intense and physical,” Dorsey said. “I believe the boys played well throughout the first three quarters of the game. However, we didn’t finish the game as strongly as I hoped. Despite that, I am very proud of our teams for playing hard and coming away with their first area win of the season.”

The Luverne Lady Tigers were on a four-game winning streak after defeating Zion Chapel 61-12. Zyan Peterson was the leading scorer for the girls, bringing in 18 points as well as 16 rebounds followed by Nikayla Melton with 11 points and six rebounds.

Amiracle Taylor, a member of the girls team said her team came to win.

“We wanted to let them know from the start that we were the better team,” Taylor said. “We came out with a lot of energy and tried to maintain that throughout the game.”

The Tigers will had two region games this week, as they faced Pike Liberal Arts at home on Tuesday and  will travel to Highland Home Friday.