By DELBERT PETERS

Staff writer

The Goessel High School girls basketball season ended Thursday in the semifinal game against Madison with a 56-40 loss.

Both teams got off to a slow start, with the Bluebirds trailing 8-6 with 2 minutes left in the first frame. Madison turned up the pressure and the Bluebirds were whistled for fouls in the second quarter, which put some of their key players on the bench.

The Bulldog defense forced many Bluebird turnovers in the second period and the No. 2 seed jumped out to a 27-11 lead at halftime.

Turnovers plagued both teams in the third period as well, and Madison increased their lead, 46-19, at the end of the third quarter.

Goessel’s defense helped narrow the deficit in the fourth quarter, forcing 12 Bulldog turnovers. Aspen Frey dropped in 9 points in the quarter and Jessica Goertzen put in 6, but the Bulldog lead was just too much to overcome in one period.

Four seniors from the starting five played their last game for the Bluebirds. Frey led the team in scoring with 15 points and two steals. Jessica Goertzen came up with a season-high of 8 points and led the team with five rebounds. Karina Harvey ended the night with 2 points and two steals. Karis Janzen scored 1 point and gathered in three rebounds.

Junior Kendra Flaming hit double figures for the 16th time this season, with 11 points and led the team with three steals. Alex Hiebert had 2 points and Shanna Klassen made 2 point and grabbed four rebounds.

The Bluebird girls ended the 2009-10 season with an overall record of 12-10, improving dramatically on the 7-15 record from the previous season.

Chase County

In the first round game of the 2A substate tournament March 2, Goessel saw an 8-point lead at the end of the third quarter nearly disappear, but then the Bluebirds built a 5-point lead to win, 39-34.

Goessel started with a 6-0 lead and continued to lead, 12-6, at the end of the first quarter. Aspen Frey scored 6 consecutive points for the Bluebirds to give Goessel a 20-12 lead. GHS led Chase County by 6 points at halftime.

The Bluebirds only made one of five free throws in the third period but still held on to a 25-17 lead at the end of the quarter. The Bulldogs scored 7 consecutive points to start the fourth quarter, making Goessel’s lead 1 point. Karina Harvey scored a field goal and Kendra Flaming hit two free throws to give the Bluebirds some breathing room. From that point on, the two teams traded points. Chase County would score and narrow Goessel’s lead to 3 points but the Bluebirds always had an answer.

Karis Janzen, Harvey, and Flaming hit field goals and Harvey and Jessica Goertzen canned key free throws at the end of the game to seal the first-round victory.

Frey had 10 points, seven steals, and four assists. Harvey also scored 10 points and was 2-for-2 on free throws. Flaming had 9 points with 5 of them coming from the free-throw line. Goertzen scored 6 points, shooting 2-for-2 from the charity stripe.

Karis Janzen scored 4 points and although Shanna Klassen did not score, she led the team with nine rebounds.