Sub State Final 2024
Goessel Girls Basketball – v Little River @ Solomon – 1A Div I Sub-State - March 2, 2024
This year’s sub-state final featured the top seeded and #1 (Kansas State High School Basketball Coaches Association) state ranked Team From Little River (TFLR) against Goessel, the 3rd seed in the Solomon sub-state. Goessel had earned its way to the privilege of facing off against the TFLR by defeating Solomon at Goessel on 2/23 and then defeating the #2 seed Sylvan-Lucas Friday night in one of Goessel’s most entertaining games of the season. Tonight would likely be the final basketball game as a Bluebird for Seniors Alece Lehrman, Jaicee Griffin, Braylyn Hoopes and Cheyenne Sawyer: ESPN’s BPI showed the Little River team with a 98.6% chance of winning tonight. Exchange student Greta Scholle would also play her final game as a Bluebird. The Little River girls are current volleyball state champions and are seeking to pull in a double dip of volleyball and basketball. Early predictions were that if Goessel could keep the margin under 25, it could be considered a “win.” Little River won every game they played in the Wheat State League regular season by 38 points or more, including an unfortunate score of 110-0 v Peabody. Goessel lost to the Little River team 68-17 on February 3rd.
The first game of the night was set in a full house with the home #1 seeded Solomon Gorillas (16-6) pitted against the peaking #6 seeded Canton-Galva Eagles (11-11). The guys’ bracket at Solomon was wide open this year with no heavy favorite and this game proved it. Canton-Galva used great inside pushes and clutch shooting to overcome nearly 30 points from Solomon Senior Spencer Coup. Down 3 with seconds remaining, Senior Witte hit a 3 at the buzzer to go into overtime and the Eagles put on a nearly perfect and dramatic OT performance to seal the win and head to state. With the OT game taking more schedule time than expected the girls’ game began late at 7:15.
Tonight was Day 111, the day this Bluebird girls’ team has been looking forward to as a team motto all year. That is, exactly that many days since the first day of fall practice to the “big game” where we determine whether we go to the “big dance.” Congratulations to this team for making it to this milestone date and to still be playing!
Goessel’s band supported the team tonight in a big way and the GHS student section was in good form and high spirits. Chevy was the Blue Man, the little backboard that could was in the house, and there were some other head ornamentations that verged on mysterious. Most fans were glad that the “western” shorts and cowboy hats did not appear again tonight. The Little River side of the house at first was quiet, almost eerily silent at first. Both teams played man and Little River put on full court pressure nearly all night. Early plans for the Bluebirds included spreading out the offense, using clock, and “keeping Mahomes off the field.” At 6:45, Braylyn Hoopes found a seam and drove for the first bucket of the night. Almost everything tonight hinged on the Bluebirds being able to navigate the Little River press, and in general Goessel found ways to overcome that. Goessel got as many blocks on defense tonight as this fan has seen in a long time from the Bluebirds, particularly notable as the TFLR starters put up a collective 20 inches more height than the Blue starters. At 4:45, fairly deep into the defensive first quarter, Abbigail was hammered in the paint and hit 2 for 2 from the line to lead 4-1, the biggest Goessel lead of the night. This lack of Red activity woke up the fanbase, perhaps a sleeping giant, and they quickly realized that two miracles can happen on the same court on the same night. Little River’s strength comes from its bench depth, outstanding athleticism of Senior Alaina Eck as well as deadly shooting from Sophomore Arika Feldman. Aimee Funk found one more charity. 5-7 In a slugfest of fouls, the first quarter went south as the giant awakened. Intense defensive pressure kept Goessel off the scoreboard and Feldman hit a deflating three at the buzzer to leave it at 5-18 after one.
Brooklyn led off the break with a set of magnificent flips up and down the Solomon Jungle hardwood. Eck and Feldman led the game-sealing onslaught in the 2nd quarter, running it to 5-25 until the three minute mark when Sawyer fired a laser into Greta Scholle for two underneath 7-25. With minutes remaining, Sawyer found Abbigail Funk on the break with a long leading pass to go to 9-27, then Sawyer (reaching for the cookie jar) hit 2-2 from the line to go into double figures 11-27 and Logan Bryant polished a nothing but net 12 footer in to give hope 13-27. The 1-2 punch of Eck/Feldman added five more in the 8-19 quarter to leave it at 13-32 at the half.
Coach Hoopes tonight sported the grey suit and white tie; out of the break, would the Bluebirds be able to craft another Jungle miracle like last night? Tonight Mr. Sawyer’s BP remained stable after nearly going over 170 in last night's thriller. Goessel’s cheer team and band did a tremendous job tonight as always; we are truly proud of you!
Just as in the 1st quarter, intensive defensive pressure kept the Bluebirds from navigating inside the lane. Relying on what has been a successful outside shooting game this year became difficult in this contest, too, with the wingspans of the opponent. Scholle buried one from across I-70 to close to 16-33, but this one was almost over. The three from Scholle was the only field goal Goessel could put up in the 3rd, but even so kept it very tight, hitting 5 of 6 from the line. Aimee Funk was perfect from the line and Abbigail was 3 for 4. The last two charities occurred in the last 1.6 seconds with Abbigail’s back to the bucket and not shooting on a reach in in the paint. 21-43. The third quarter was 8-11.
At 6:40 in the 4th, Bryant let one fly from the top of the arc, nothing but net. 24-49. At 5:10 the game turned to running clock at 24-55. It is believed that the full court pressure was relaxed as the Little River deep bench came in for some minutes. Cheyenne got one to fall from the corner opposite the magic spot 27-55 and Alece Lehrman put back a Scholle miss to stay at 29-56, then Cheyenne was fouled going to the hoop for a +1 to get back to final margin of 24, 32-56. Fans counted this a success, both vastly improving on the previous performance against this team (12 less opponents points and 15 more Bluebird points) as well as meeting the criteria of a 25 point losing margin or less.
Junior Aimee Funk was high scorer for Goessel tonight with 9, including 6 in the final stanza and one giant three. Sister Junior Abbigail Funk hit for 7, including huge free throw shooting (5/6). Both have played and will continue to play gigantic roles for the Bluebirds. Greta Scholle and Junior Logan Bryant both came in with 5 points apiece; Greta could not find the long range tonight but her presence was much needed with several 6 footers on the floor. It took a giant team effort to defend the taller and quick TFLR. Goessel was able to capture its share of defensive boards, although TTFLR dominated on their end. Excellent work ladies! Seniors Braylyn Hoopes and Alece Lehrman each got 2, Braylyn the first bucket of the night and Alece nearly the last of the game. Senior Jaicee Griffin missed the game with an injury – thank you Jaicee for your contributions to Bluebird basketball these years. Joining the Bluebirds for the sub-state squad were: Sophomore Hailey Rosfeld, Freshman Jayley Schmidt, Sophomore Delaney Gibson, and Freshman Isabelle Alderfer.
Congratulations Bluebirds for a great season and best wishes for a great finish to your year!
-Karl Brubaker
