The Night Before Christmas Break
Goessel Girls Basketball – Peabody @ Goessel – December 19, 2023
‘Twas the night before Christmas break and all through the house, the entire Goessel girls team sported
team ugly sweater warmups. It is a tough season for several regional schools who have had difficulty
fielding full sports teams; the Peabody Warriors’ girls team this year has 8 players, 6 less than the cheer
team. With four freshmen and two Seniors, it looks like a daunting season, but the Warrior ladies kept
their heads up throughout tonight despite the final outcome. Way to go Warriors! Freshman Sarah
Winfrey found the range at 7:10 in the 2 nd quarter for the only Peabody field goal of the night and
Goessel did not send the Warriors to the line once. The final on this one was 62-2.
With multiple points off steals to start, Goessel led 24-0 after the first stanza, mostly scoring on layups
and an exquisite outside burner from Abbigail Funk, sans mullet bun tonight, at 5:07. This three was so
pure there were murmurs from the radio audience asking for a replay to confirm that the shot actually
did go through the hoop. At 7:10, Sarah Winfrey found the range from the left side, going to the bank,
and the Warriors were up 2-0 in the 2 nd until the 1:36 mark. After Bluebird turnovers on a triple jump
move, a hop/skip/jump effort, and a massive Euro-step attempt, Goessel’s Logan Bryant finally struck
pay dirt 26-2. To close the half, Braylyn Hoopes bounced nearly perfectly to post Greta Scholle for the
knockout punch at the closing bell. 28-2 at the half.
Cheyenne Sawyer started with a power shot from somewhere close to the City Building, then a barrage
of Bluebirds went crazy and this one quickly rolled to a 24-0 quarter as well. Her three was so awesome,
each of the Christmas sweaters with Coach H on them grew actual fuzzy sideburns (ew that’s gross).
Aimee Funk, sporting a curly mullet bun tonight, was hammered on the break and hit both charities;
Alece Lehrman had a nice put back in the middle off the glass. Fans who rose in unison for “Up Up with
Bluebird Pride” found themselves cheering for the Blue Warriors to actually score another bucket…..
The quarter closed with a nifty Bryant post roll on the left side against two Warriors. 52-2 after three.
in the 4 th Jaicee Griffin put back a Funk miss, then Aimee Funk caressed an inside finish off an inbounds
set. In running clock, Delaney Gibson came off the bench to score at 2:24, followed by a Scholle finish
underneath and Gibson notched another two on a put back to leave the 10-0 quarter at 62-2 at the
close. Will have to check Goessel basketball records but this may be lowest points allowed.
Cheyenne Sawyer put up 13. Greta Scholle scored 11, with points in every quarter, and Abbigail Funk
put up 9, all in the first quarter. Jaicee Griffin punched in 7, Aimee Funk 6, Delaney Gibson 5, and Logan
Bryant as well as Alece Lehrman put up 4. Braylyn Hoopes notched 3 points, Goessel continued
shooting well from the line, finishing 6/8 (75%) for the night. Four Bluebirds were perfect from the line
tonight: Aimee Funk, Braylyn Hoopes, Jaicee Griffin and Greta Scholle. Also in for the Bluebirds with
solid minutes off the bench: Hailey Rosfeld and Jayley Schmidt .
-Karl Brubaker
