The Sun Will Rise Tomorrow
The Sun Will Rise Tomorrow
Goessel Girls Basketball - @ Goessel v. Moundridge Wildcats January 19, 2018
Tonight’s matchup between perennial rivals Moundridge and Goessel had all the makings of a great winter basketball high
point. Goessel has risen to #7 in 2A this week (KBCA ), both teams have lost to Inman by 1, and team records now
begin to have meaning for sub-state seeding. The Hillsboro 2A sub-state seedings appear to be very tight with any team
participating having a shot on any given night. Coach Holloway was a long term coach and teacher at Goessel and now
daughter Brooke Bumgarner is serving as an assistant coach at Goessel. This was going to be a classic 2A coaching duel
and fan support for both teams was strong on the “girls only” night. The first quarter seemed to epitomize what most
fans expected from this entire game: 6 lead changes, heavy on defense, low scoring, keen on good movement and very
focused on taking care of the ball. After 1, Moundridge led 11-13, but from that point on the Wildcats put on a furious
and downright sensational defensive show, holding Goessel to one field goal through two quarters of play and putting the
game on ice, leading by as many as 23. The game ended 28-45.
All night Moundridge seemed to take advantage of excellent ball movement and ball handling, finding penetrations,
drawing fouls and getting to the line. The Wildcats put up 25 attempts from the line and hit 18; two Bluebirds fouled out.
Four different Wildcats hit from beyond the arc and Senior Bethany Stucky (19 points) almost single handedly stayed
even with the Bluebirds on offense, which remained totally out of sorts throughout most of the game. Goessel has
plenty to work on to bring its game to the level that will be able to compete well in post-season.
At 5:30 in the first quarter, Leah caught a bounce in from Kara, went up and hit the front end for Goessel’s first score. A
moment later Brittney pushed hard in the paint and her shot off the glass fell in +1 to knot at 4. Goessel put together
one of its few passing executions of the night on a dish out to Leah and back in to Eden for a nifty finish and 6-4 lead.
Stucky hit 3 of 4 charities and the next time down Leah rolled beautifully for two to regain the lead 8-7, but the Wildcats
found Freshman starter Kaufman in the corner for a big three. Eden retook the lead with one launched from beyond the
large bucket of blue foam fingers, only to see Moundridge’s Durst bury one from the top of the key to go up 11-13.
Other than this outside shot, Goessel could absolutely not find the bucket. With the back and forth action, the lead
changed hands an incredible 6 times and the quarter ended 11-13.
The good news in the 2 nd quarter was that Goessel held the Wildcats to 2 field goals, both follows on offensive boards
where the Bluebird defender was totally boxed out. The really bad news was that the Bluebirds scored only one FG in the
2-9 quarter. Three different ‘Cats went to the line and hit 5 for 6 in the defensive stanza to leave it at 13-22 to close the
half. Moundridge absolutely slammed the door on the Bluebird offense and maintained an iron fist on the defensive
boards the rest of the night. Coach Hoopes called two timeouts to try to find a solution, but solid ball-handling from the
visitors stymied each defensive strategy. At 1:54 in the quarter, Brittney scored on a nice inbounds rotation for the only
field goal the Bluebirds saw in a period of over 10 minutes of playing time. That simple statement tells the story of the
night.
As torturous as the 2 nd quarter became, the visitors’ momentum gathered in the 3 rd . Three treys kept the knockout
punches coming. At 3:48, Marina hit two charities and with 1:21 Leah hit the back end of two more for the only scoring
from the ‘Blue in the entire disastrous 3-17 quarter. Everything was one and done against the packed Moundridge
defense; in the quarter, the ‘Cats only went to the line once but burned the Goessel defense from just about everywhere.
Goessel had scored one FG in the 2 nd and 3 rd combined against Moundridge 7 for 8 FT shooting and three treys; the
quarter closed 16-39.
Goessel found some traction in the 4 th with a three point play in the paint from Brittney. Eden was called for her 4 th at
5:54; down the floor Brittney notched a great steal off Stucky, laid it in and was fouled for another fine three point play.
22-42. The too late rally found more hope with 2-2 from the line from Kara and a razor sharp finish from Eden 26-42, but
rally caps came off as Eden fouled out at 4:39. Goessel went to the line in the double bonus off overly aggressive ‘Cat
fouling at 3:41 but could not convert the charities, Stucky pushed hard inside and Brittney fouled out at 1:15. Marina
saw the Spanish flag in the hall wave slightly as she hit for two more charities to close the lopsided contest 28-45.
Goessel has not had a lot of solid practice time this week with the cold weather. Tonight’s first quarter effort, adapting
well to the skills of the opponent, seemed what the Bluebirds need to find as they continue to press through the rest of
this season. Despite having a height advantage in the paint, the Bluebirds were outplayed on defense and could not find
answers on offense. Brittney led Goessel tonight with 11, Eden added 7, and Leah and Marina each put up 4. Kara
scored 2; also on the floor tonight were Abby, Madi, Stephany, Jenna, Emily, and Savanna. Goessel shot 21% from the
floor (8 for 39) and was frigid from beyond the arc at 1 for 13 (8%), while shooting 61% from the line. Goessel pulled
down 16 total team rebounds, 7 of which were offensive against the Moundridge defense that did not allow much 2 nd
chance action. Eden was credited with 8 huge deflections on the night. Goessel goes to 8-2 and Moundridge 6-4. A
famous coach once said “The Sun will rise tomorrow.”
-Karl Brubaker