Building the Bridge
Goessel Girls Varsity Basketball December 2019
With two Seniors and only 15 on the roster in 19-20, Goessel’s girls have realistic plans for the year. According to Coach Ryan Hoopes, in his 13th season with the Bluebirds, “we will be very undersized this year.” Senior Liz Alderfer at 5’8” is characterized by Coach Hoopes as “doing the little things that don’t always get recognized,” as well as being a “smart player who is always at the right place at the right time.” Senior Porclein Unruh is a “high energy player” who is “not afraid to dive on the floor and go after loose balls.” Junior Lizzie Schmucker returns as the principal Bluebird scoring threat who “has put a huge number of hours in during the off-season.” Also returning are letter winners Bethany Herrel and Raechel Boese (injured until mid-season). Coach Hoopes indicates that “this is a group of girls who enjoy playing basketball and should make some huge strides in the right direction this year.”
Goessel opened with a loss at Inman and faced a strong Central Christian girls’ team at home in the first night of the Bluebird Classic, losing 22-46. In night three of the Classic, the Bluebirds took on Burrton on Friday, December 13th. It’s happened in the past, but again tonight a Hoopes was coaching on each bench. Burrton jumped out to a 0-4 lead, but Porclein Unruh set in the deep left corner with her left foot in the Shafer Christmas light lawn display and caught nothing but net to go to 3-4 at 6:44. Moments later, Burrton’s Alexis Zehr buried one from way downtown and at 3-7 with 3:58 left Unruh went down in the lane after catching an elbow in the right temple. That injury left her on the bench the remainder of the contest. Burrton took advantage of several ‘Bird ball-handling miscues and ran it to 3-12. Goessel’s Riley Graber showed a highlight defensive moment on one of the Charger breaks.
Goessel almost ran “Money” for two out of the chute and again showed solid hustle on the defensive end. Schmucker put one back up at 6:54 off a Sarah Spurlin miss to move to 5-14 and Coach H called time at 5:42. At 4:47 Alderfer was fouled inside on a put-back but missed the charity, then seconds later Schmucker put another in the hole to close to 7-14. Fans commented on the solid defensive stances put up tonight. On free throws, the Chargers extended to 7-19 and Goessel’s Kaleigh Guhr hit one more charity to close the half 8-19. The 2nd quarter was 5-7.
Out of the break, Goessel put on a huge show, with Schmucker scoring at 7:47 on a nice 15 footer, then Sophomore Rachael Zogleman getting nothing but net on the baseline. Schmucker ran a personal front court press a good portion of the night and Goessel got a steal off the pressure, converting to Spurlin for the lay-up. Moments later, the Bluebird defensive pressure paid off again, going to Schmucker this time with a huge runner to close within 5, 16-21, a 8-2 run. Goessel has put up as many points in the first minute and a half as they had the entire first half. On defense the chatter is described as a hybrid of Klingon and street Swahili in a distinctly southern accent; the language is now officially attributed in the Library of Congress as Kaleighese. Burrton called time, Goessel sent Schmucker to the line for one of two to close within 4 17-21 and the Bluebirds took a timeout at 5:22. Burrton got a huge trey from Zehr out of the break and neither team could find the hoop in the rest of the 3rd, with the exception of another nice steal and finish from Freshman Riley Graber to leave it at 19-29.
Schmucker hit one from pretty close to McPherson County and Zogleman added two more to again give hope at 24-29, but an 8-0 scoring burst from the Chargers put this one out of reach; Schmucker got another steal and converted two more to finish at 26-39. Schmucker finished with 14 to lead all Bluebird scorers. Zogleman added 4, Unruh scored 3, and Spurlin and Grader each totaled 2. Guhr finished with 1 point on the night. Also seeing action were: Herrel, Alderfer, Alyssa Boden, Lyna McCombs and Emily Flaming. Goessel will play in the 5th place game Saturday afternoon.
-Karl Brubaker