Harambee
Goessel Girls Basketball – @ Goessel v. Elyria Christian Eagles Saturday December 13, 2025
On the final day of the 19th Bluebird Classic, Little River would take both the girls and boys championships with
wins over Canton-Galva 48-37 in the boys and 58-29 over Linn in the girls. Goessel girls faced Elyria Christian
for 5 th place at 3:00 pm. This year’s team theme is Harambee, a Kenyan Swahili phrase that talks about
togetherness, bringing variations in background, ability, and focus together as one. If there were a phrase
describing tonight’s Bluebird effort, that worked as Goessel led by as much as 11 and showed unity and
discipline up and down the court. In a contest that had only two ties but six lead changes, this was the 2 nd high
octane nailbiter for Goessel this year. Goessel emerged out of the 4 th quarter fog a 49-46 winner to secure 5 th
place in the Classic.
Goessel showed great ball movement against the Eagles zone to start; the game’s initial pace was dizzying with
fans wondering out loud whether it was sustainable. Delaney Duerksen dolloped one in from 10 feet to start
and before you could say “Olliveeeaaaa” it was 18-10. Bella O’Neill galloped one in, then went coast to coast
for two more and put one up from well beyond the east Goessel Christmas lights displays to lead 13-4. Hailey
Rosfeld set just in front of the Eagle cheer squad and let one fly that was so perfect the Eagles mascot’s wings
visibly folded. To close the up-tempo quarter O’Neill went two for two from the foul line. Goessel had its
biggest lead of the night at 21-10 on a break with a feed from Duerksen to O’Neill 21-10.
Claire Claassen caught a miss and went right back up for a lovely two to lead 24-15 and Duerksen had a
sensational saving block on the Eagle break. Goessel’s Isabelle Alderfer got loose on an inbounds set to stay at
26-15 as the Eagles slowly got back into this one in the 2 nd quarter. The 8-11 2 nd stanza ended 26-21.
Once again, Goessel scored big on a well crafted inbounds play to Alderfer at 7:32. Shortly afterward the third
personal was called on key inside player 5’10” Joy Pyle. The Eagles converted their game plan to feeding Pyle
over the top and they took their first lead 28-29 at 5:07. Duerksen hit two charities to retake the lead 30-29,
but it was back to 30-31 and Coach Hoopes took a time out at 3:05. The Goessel cheer team came out with
“We’ve Got the Beat the Bluebird Beat” which appeared to turn the tide blue again. Mackenzie Voth went to
the line and got one of two to knot at 31-31 but more importantly #4 was called on Pyle and she was forced to
go into “sit on defense – come back in on offense” mode. Duerksen banked in a spectacular three to lead 34-
31 and at :53 ticks O’Neill swashbuckled one in from the other side of Emma Creek to lead 37-31 after three.
Claassen caught an inbounds pass in an outstanding move to the bucket and laid it in to bring the home team
to their feet 39-31. In a relentless and unnerving sequence, Pyle hit five straight buckets to retake the lead 42-
43. Not to be outdone, Goessel’s Abi Johnson stepped up with a great inside move of her own to go to 44-43
and at 2:16 crafted another inside roll that ended up as a plus one for a 47-43 Bluebird lead. This one wasn’t
over yet as Elyria’s Noggle wangled one in from somewhere north of the concession stand 47-46. Moody
fouled out at 1:53 and this one moved back and forth in high tension defensive posturing. With 13 ticks left
O’Neill was fouled and went to the line, hitting both to go up 49-46 and the contest ended with no further
scoring.
Bella O’Neill led the Bluebird squad tonight with 18, pulled 8 boards and was a perfect 4/4 from the line.
Duerksen had 10 with a block and 3 deflections. Alderfer put up a giant 6 points, 6 rebounds and was credited
with an unheard of 4 “floor points” showing huge hustle. Johnson had 5 huge points, all down the stretch and
was perfect from the line as well. Scoring three for Goessel were: Rosfeld, Schmidt and Claassen and
Mackenzie Voth tallied 1. Jenna Flaming was also in for the Bluebirds.
-Karl Brubaker
