New Life Academy girls basketball: Eagles top West Lutheran in early test

The New Life Academy girls basketball team took down one of its strongest competitors on Thursday, Jan. 13, in Woodbury, improving to 2-0 in Minnesota Christian Athletic Association league play with a 63-47 win over rival West Lutheran.

In the game, New Life (8-5; 2-0 MCAA) expanded a 28-22 lead into a 63-47 win outscoring visiting West Lutheran (9-2; 1-2 MCAA) 35-25 in the second half.

Eagles’ senior standouts Rebekah Schmidt and Cara Lutes each went over 20 points in the game to lead the way. Lutes scored a team-high 21 points and Schmidt netted 20 points. Schmidt and Lutes are 1-2, respectively, in scoring in the conference. Schmidt is scoring 19.2 points per game and Lutes has a 16.8 points per game average. Additionally, in the win, New Life junior forward Mikayla Diers chipped in 10 points. West Lutheran was led by a game-high 23 points from Megan Steffel.

Next, New Life travels to Legacy Christian (4-8; 2-1 MCAA) on Tuesday, Jan. 18, and Bethany Academy (2-7; 0-2 MCAA) on Friday, Jan. 21.

Tags: cottage grove, sports, basketball, eagles, woodbury, preps