Bluebirds leave Dragons in the smoke
The Goessel boys defeated Belle Plaine 74-44 on Monday in the first round game at the Canton-Galva Tournament.
Goessel led at the quarters, 21-18, 38-30, 56-37, and 74-44.
The Dragons held one point leads at 12-11 and 22-21, but Goessel fought back and then exploded in the third and fourth quarters.
When the score was 40-36 with Goessel ahead, the boys began a 21-1 run. Goessel smothered the Dragons on defense and converted nine 3-pointers in the game.
"This was the best two quarters of basketball that we have played all season," Coach Coup said.
"The team had an amazing 20 assists," he said.
Jeremy Voth scored 12 of his 24 points in the third quarter. Ben Schmidt poured in 17 points with his best offensive performance for the season.
Other players scoring for the Bluebirds were Clinton Plenert with 12 points, Ken Peters with 11, Jesse Goertzen with six, and Aaron Stehman with four.
Goessel will play at 6:15 on Thursday and will play either at 6:15 or 8 p.m. on Friday.
Friday's contest against Central Christian ended with Goessel winning both the boys and girls games.
The Goessel girls led by a 13-4 score the end of the first quarter and 23-14 at half-time.
The Bluebirds increased their lead to 39-21 at the end of the third quarter, but then Central Christian began to attack. The Cougars outscored the Bluebirds 15-2 in the fourth quarter, taking the deficit from 20 points down to a score of 45-38. Goessel regrouped to finish the game with a final score of 49-38. Individual scoring was Tara Goerzen with 24 points, Melinda Stucky with 13, Lindsey Unruh with six, Katie Schroeder with four, and Jessica Graber with two. The win moves the girls league record to 4-3 at the mid-way mark of this season and 7-3 overall.
In the boys' game, Goessel could never take a commanding lead on their home floor. The boys found themselves open from the three-point range but could only find the mark on one basket out of every 12 attempts in the first half. Central Christian was just as cold, and the Bluebirds went into the half-time break with a lead of 24-18.
The Cougars matched the Bluebirds bucket for bucket and then tied the game with a three pointer for the first score in the fourth quarter at 33-33. Goessel was finally able to pull ahead by scoring seven straight points and then held on to win 46-40.
Jeremy Voth led with 18 rebounds and 16 points followed by Kent Peters with 13, Clinton Plenert with 12, Jesse Goertzen with three, Aaron Stehman and Ben Schmidt with one each.
Goessel hits the half-way point in the season with a league record of 5-2 and a overall 7-4. The boys play in the Canton-Galva Tournament Jan. 14-18.
