Bluebirds Fall to Cougars in Classic 2nd Round
Goessel Varsity Girls Basketball - Central Christian @ Goessel December 7, 2018
Central Christian’s trio of Josie Ibarra, Lindsey Kauffman and Krysten Bartlett gave Goessel’s Bluebirds fits in the 2nd night of the Bluebird Classic. The Cougars led from start to finish in this one. Goessel could not find the range at the free throw stripe, going 1 for 9 the first half and 3 of 6 in the 2nd.; the Cougars hit 17 of 25 charity attempts. The Bluebirds were again plagued with turnovers and the game finished in running clock 26-55.
Both teams came out woman to woman. Stephany Meyer bounced to Liz Alderfer in the paint for a very savvy finish to knot at 2, but the Cougars rolled quickly to 2-9 before Meyer faked once and pushed inside for two more to go to 4-11. The Three Amigos tonight made more travelling calls than a Rick Steves European TV special. Stephany burned the Cougars once more with an excellent dribble/drive to close to 6-11 and Goessel went to zone. Madi Smith caught a Meyer carom and put back a nifty shot to leave the first quarter at 8-15.
Goessel showed great momentum to start with Smith getting hammered and hitting the front end of two, then Alderfer scoring on a sensational inbound set 11-15. Down the floor the next time, however, the Cougars put on full court pressure and their quick hands resulted in a 13-0 run, pretty much taking care of the contest. The Bluebirds came up nearly empty at the charity stripe, going 1 for 9 in the first half. Bartlett had a nice bulldozer move inside which she utilized to great effect. With 45 seconds left, Meyer finally found pay-dirt in the lane again to go 13-28, and the 5-16 quarter ended 13-32.
To start the 3rd, both teams had some great finishes and Goessel showed hope with a 8-6 effort to start. Smith ran the court and finished well, then followed underneath for two more. Meyer polished off a great drive with a bank in and Megan Guerrero went two for two from the FT line for 100% FT shooting for the night. 21-37.
The Cougars continued to push hard and ran it to 23-51, interrupted only by a nice Alderfer turn underneath for a soft baseline jumper. Central Christian cleared its bench with 4:30 remaining. Stephany banked one in from 10 feet, then Meyer caught another over the top for the final FG of the night. Liz Schmucker hit the back end of two for the 26-55 finish in running clock.
Stephany Meyer closed with 10, Madi Smith 7, Liz Alderfer had 6 and Megan Guerrero 2 for the Bluebirds. Liz Schmucker rounded out the scoring with 1; also in for Goessel were Haley O’Neal, Raechel Boese, Porclein Unruh, Rebecca Sawyer and Bethany Herrel.
Goessel will play Canton-Galva for 3rd place on Saturday afternoon. It is interesting to note that of the six teams participating in the Classic, the guys and girls from each town are each playing the same town in all cases. Goessel plays Canton-Galva, Burrton takes on Elyria and Little River plays Central Christian. Mathematics students are urged to compute the odds of that happening and send their entry / answer along with a $20 bill to Mr. Lightner.
-Karl Brubaker
