Goessel Seniors Tame Lions
Goessel Girls Basketball – Central Christian Academy (Wichita) @ Goessel February 17, 2023
Seniors Sarah Spurlin, Riley Graber and Tiffany Popp were recognized on Homecoming Night 2023. Student Council was instrumental in bringing back the tradition of a Homecoming Court and Royalty this year after a long hiatus. Tonight’s last home game of the regular season featured a relatively new opponent for the Bluebirds, the Central Christian Academy (Wichita) Lady Lions. Senior Riley Graber had an incredible night, going 5 for 6 from the charity stripe, scoring in every quarter and finishing with 17 as the Bluebirds led nearly start to finish, allowed only 1 field goal in the third quarter, and went on to win 61-29.
The Bluebirds emerged from the tunnel, each with the requisite slap of the “home” sign, and entered Bluebird Arena as the gladiators v. the Lions. Cheyenne Sawyer lit up the jumbo-tron with a corner trey at 5:25, causing all the newspapers in the student section to spontaneously open up. Moments later, #5 let fly another with so much exuberance in its arc, everyone wearing a tiara tonight felt a forehead glow something akin to a Harry Potter Z. Bluebird turnovers kept this one close, but Braylyn Hoopes toasted another long effort into the waiting nylon with so much finesse the entire Hoopes clan felt a pulse of pride. 10-6. To start the 2nd, Goessel’s ballhandlers were patient against the Lion 1-2-2 zone, with Graber finally able to find a crease. Down the floor the next time, #14 went hard to the hoop and was fouled as her amazing runner off the glass jiggled in. The three point play left it at 15-8. Two timeouts later, with 1:15 left, Lion ball handler Hernandez got her own push to the bucket to fall +1 to take the only Lion lead of the night, 17-16. Goessel was in the 1-1 with :57 left and Abbigail Funk went to the line, hitting the front end to tie, then Logan Bryant managed to get a hand on the offensive board, poked it back out to #20, and Abbigail let a nearly perfect long bomb loose from very near where the junior homecoming attendants sat waiting for their big moment. 20-17. The shot was so perfect it barely moved the net and that momentum continued with another Graber foray in the paint, a steal off back court pressure and a very well crafted Abbigail Funk lay-in to lead 24-17 at the buzzer.
Moments into the 3rd, key player #23 Rauch had to sit for the Lions with 4 fouls. Goessel went on a 13-0 run to put the game away, finishing up what amounted to a 21-0 run including the 2nd quarter finish. Free throws from Spurlin, some feisty moves in the paint from Graber, a great catch and pop from Spurlin on an inbounds set, another magnificent trey from Hoopes and break from Abbigail Funk, and a stop and twirl in the lane from Jaicee Griffin were all highlights of the run. The Lions recovered a bit in the latter part of the painfully long quarter, shooting 6 of 9 charities. Goessel would hold the Lions with zero field goals until Johns broke loose with 2 seconds left to score and the quarter ended 41-25.
Goessel scored 10 in the first, 14 in the 2nd, 17 in the 3rd and would put up 20 in the 4th. Graber leapt like a gazelle in the paint, caught the in-pass, turned and finished +1. Griffin put back a Funk miss and then Abbigail Funk caught a nice bounce for two on the break. The Bluebirds were anticipating well on defense and were able to jump passing lanes for steals and finishes off turnovers. Aimee Funk and Brooklyn Wuest scored on hard pushes down the floor. The Bluebirds had won every quarter tonight, taming the Lions, expanding their margin also each quarter. Goessel won by 2 in the first, 5 in the 2nd, 9 in the 3rd and 16 points in the 4th. The game ended 61-29, the largest lead of the night, with running clock the last 1:27.
Riley Graber led the Bluebirds tonight with 17 points, followed by Abbigail Funk with 12. Jaicee Griffin had a great outing with 9 and Sawyer, Spurlin and Hoopes each put up 6. Brooklyn Wuest had 3 and Aimee Funk 2 to round out the Bluebird scoring. Also in for Goessel were: Logan Bryant and Tiffany Popp. Goessel will conclude the regular season v. Udall on Tuesday and it appears the #5 seeded Bluebirds will play Canton-Galva the #4 seed to start sub-state play at Canton. Goessel is actually hosting the sub-state this year as Solomon’s gym was damaged by water. Should the Bluebird emerge victorious in the first round, their opponent would be the Lady Eagles from Elyria, the #1 seed in the Goessel sub-state. Best wishes Lady Bluebirds!
Karl Brubaker
