Strive
Goessel Girls Varsity Basketball - Bluebird Classic Tuesday Dec. 5, 2017 Goessel v. Canton-Galva
Goessel’s Bluebirds opened their Bluebird Classic tournament presence with a resounding statement in the first quarter, jumping on the Canton-Galva Eagles 22-3. Pulling back the defensive pressure after that, Goessel’s Seniors Eden Hiebert and Brittney Hiebert pushed up the floor and inside the paint for 40 points between them to lead the ‘Birds to a 55-31 final. Each player on the Bluebird bench saw plenty of action tonight as Goessel moves to 1-1 after a narrow 34-35 loss to 2A rival Inman to start the season on Friday night.
Off the tip, Eden galloped in for two, then Senior Abby Hannon finished on the break for two more. Off an inbounds set, Eden performed a quick magic act back to herself for the lay-in and the Bluebirds kept punching it in off steals, running it to 13-3. Junior Stephany Meyer will be a key player inside for Goessel as a team and she coasted a nice follow through the hoop in the paint. Brittney was extremely solid on the offensive boards tonight and took it to 20-3 with a great follow. Senior Kara Burkholder found pay dirt off a nifty defensive effort and went the length of the floor to go 22-3, putting the game on ice in the first quarter. With the press pulled, Goessel played a more conventional woman to woman; with another power follow and pretty feed into Senior Leah Booton the first quarter ended 26-8.
Until the 5:16 mark, the Eagles soared, getting three consecutive buckets from Freshman Alexa Bell, but Goessel got back on track again with a great in-pass from Junior Savanna Wuest to a streaking Eden for the 28-13 tally. Eden then threw a near perfect strike to Brittney on the break and Brittney followed on the next possession to go up 32-13. The half ended with a Bell three and Goessel up 33-18. With Goessel’s substitutes in, the Eagles won the 2nd quarter 7-10.
With the Bluebirds playing tough woman to woman, the teams challenged each other back and forth for the first three minutes in the 3rd. A Brittney block cracked the stalemate at 5:19 and two free throws took it to 37-22. Turnovers/early season mistakes took their toll on the Bluebird effort in the 3rd. Abby notched a near perfect pass rolling to Junior Marina Bidegain to lead 39-24 and Eden quickly expanded the lead with a steal/lay-in and follow of a miss to end the quarter at 43-24.
Continued pushes down the floor against the younger smaller Eagles left Mastre with 5 fouls at the 6:41 mark. After that, Goessel was perfect from the foul line, going 6 for 6 with Eden and Brittney particularly showing flawless form. Goessel hit on two nice over the top plays feeding one to Brittney and one to Booton. Flashing in the middle, Eden hit a nice finger roll and got the +1 call. At 3:24, Coach Hoopes had cleared the bench and Senior Emily Meier hit nothing but net with two charities to close out the contest 55-31.
Eden Hiebert led all scorers with 23 (9 for 15 = 60%) and Brittney Hiebert put up 17 tonight (9 rebounds, 7 of which were offensive) for the Blue. Leah Booton finished with 4, Kara Burkholder 3 and Abby Hannon, Stephany Meyer, Emily Meier (100% from FT line), Marina Bidegain each put up 2. Coach Hoopes indicated the team worked hard tonight on sprinting to their assignments on defense, indicating in the team’s first outing he was not pleased with the level of effort. Goessel dominated the boards at both ends against the smaller Eagles, pulling down 17 offensive and 21 defensive boards. Eden was credited with a huge 9 steals. Goessel was whistled for 23 turnovers. The Eagles went to the free throw stripe four times and went 1 for 6 while the Bluebirds were 13 for 21. Also seeing action tonight were: Madi Smith, Jenna Nightingale, Haley O’Neal and Savanna Wuest. Assistant Coaches this year are Brooke Holloway and Brian Lightner. Managers are Alyssa Burkholder, Brooke Nafziger, Neviah Impson, and Angels Agulera.
Thanks to the cheer squad and band for an enthusiastic first night in Bluebird land!
-Karl Brubaker
