Girls team falls to Little River
By DELBERT PETERS
Contributing writer
The Goessel High School girls' basketball team was defeated Tuesday by Little River 57-28.
A cold shooting night against a highly ranked team made for a lopsided victory for Little River.
The Bluebirds could only muster 10 points in the first half and trailed 28-10 at halftime. Goessel outscored Little River in the early part of the third quarter 8-2 to bring the score to 32-18, but the Redskins remained in control.
Scoring for Goessel were Melinda Stucky with eight points, Lindsey Unruh with six, Brittany Goerzen, Carolyn Unruh, and Tara Goerzen with four each, and Candice Bailey with two.
On Friday, the Goessel girls played against tall odds as they faced the Sedgwick Cardinals and their dominating 6 foot-3-inch center Rochelle Busenitz. Sedgwick has learned to toss the ball high near the basket and let their dominating player catch and shoot.
Although the Bluebirds fell behind 23-14 in the second quarter, they were able to tie the game 31-31 with 4:35 left in the third quarter. From that point on the lead changed hands eight times with Sedgwick getting the last basket.
With a 42-41 lead with 5:33 left in the fourth quarter, Goessel was satisfied to play catch with the ball near half court, hoping to get fouled and win the game at the free-throw line. The strategy was sound, but the Bluebirds made five of eight attempts in the fourth quarter, which left them one point short.
Goessel did get the ball with 32 seconds to play and behind by one. The Bluebirds played for the good shot, knowing the odds of getting a rebound against the taller opponent was slim. Tara Goerzen was guarded closely all night and with six seconds to play, Stucky drove around Busenitz for a final basket, but the ball fell just short of going in.
Goessel shot a disappointing 12 of 22 free throws for the game.
Their record is now 10-6 overall and 6-4 in the league.
Scoring for the Bluebirds were Stucky 15, T. Goerzen 12, Lindsey Unruh eight, Darla Funk six, and Candice Bailey and Becky Schroeder with two each.
