By DELBERT PETERS

Staff writer

Coming from behind, the Bluebirds defeated Solomon, 39-37, Friday in a home game.

A tremendous fourth quarter helped the Bluebirds overcome an 11-point deficit. In the final two minutes of the game, with the Bluebirds trailing 34-29, Aimee Flaming hit an inspirational 3-pointer, followed by a Shanna Klassen basket on an assist from Alex Hiebert to tie the game. Solomon hit two free throws to take the lead but Jennifer Van Horn hit a layup to tie the game at 36 with 51 seconds to play.

So many times this season the lead has slipped away from Goessel at the end of the game. Van Horn missed a free throw, but Klassen got the rebound and passed to Van Horn slashing to the basket for another layup, and the Goessel crowd exploded. The Gorillas missed a basket and Klassen went to the free-throw line with 20 seconds to play. She made one to give the Bluebirds a 39-36 lead. Solomon missed another shot and Goessel had the ball out-of-bounds at the opposite end of the court with 6.7 seconds left in the game.

The long in-bounds pass was intercepted at half court and the Gorillas called timeout with only four seconds to play, but enough time to catch, dribble, and shoot. Solomon had trouble getting the ball to a designated player, which allowed Van Horn to steal the in-bounds pass and dribble the length of the court, holding the ball until time expired.

Goessel trailed, 7-6, at the end of one quarter, 18-12 at halftime, and trailed 32-24 at the end of three periods.

In this game the scoring was balanced with Alex Hiebert banking 10 points. Klassen played many minutes, scoring 9 points, and gathered 9 rebounds. Flaming knocked in 8 points. Although sidelined with foul trouble for most of the game, Van Horn scored 8 points with 4 steals. Johanna Hoffman and D’Ambra Kruger each had 2 points.

Hope game

The Lady Bluebirds suffered a loss to Hope on Jan. 4, 40-37.

In a span of four minutes, Van Horn picked off four passes as Goessel outscored Hope 10-3 to give the Bluebirds a 6-point lead in the second period. By halftime Goessel held a slim lead of 16-14.

Hiebert and Klassen made baskets in the third quarter to maintain a 24-22 lead, but the Lions regained the lead with two baskets near the end of the third period. Jessica Harvey dribbled across half court in traffic and then launched a shot at the top of the 3-point circle that found the net at the buzzer and again Goessel led 27-26 at the end of three periods.

Both teams started the fourth quarter with a bevy of turnovers. Klassen scored and Flaming put in a left-handed layup to keep the Bluebirds ahead, 31-29, with five minutes to play. Hope again gained the lead, but a Harvey free throw and 5 points from Van Horn gave the impression that the Bluebirds had the momentum and the lead, 37-34, with 1:50 to play in the game.

Hope took advantage of two turnovers and Goessel’s missed shots from close range to steal the victory, 40-37.

Van Horn hit double digits in scoring for the first time this season with 11 points to go along with 5 steals and 4 assists. Klassen dropped in 8 points and grabbed 7 rebounds. Hiebert and Harvey each had 6 points, with Johanna Hoffman, Kruger, and Flaming each getting 2 points.

The Bluebird girls are now 1-2 in league play and 2-6 overall.

Goessel was at Rosalia Tuesday for a non-league game with Flint Hills and then at Elyria Christian on Friday.