By DELBERT PETERS

Staff writer

For 8 minutes, the Goessel girls were in a close contest Friday at Elyria Christian. Kara Burkholder, Eden Hiebert, Olivia Duerksen and Jenn Meysing dropped in buckets as the Bluebirds led just 9-8. All of Eyria’s points came from close to the basket.

In the next 24 minutes, the home Eagles would score just 8 points.

Jenna Nightingale took over at point guard in the second quarter to help the Bluebirds survive some first-half foul trouble. Duerksen, Meysing, Eden Hiebert, and Savanna Wuest scored to build a 19-11 halftime lead.

Brittney Hiebert and Abby Hannon joined the scoring parade in the third period. The game turned scrappy, but the Bluebirds kept intercepting passes as the Eagles struggled to get the basketball close to the hoop. The Bluebirds emptied their bench with three minutes to play as Goessel cruised to a 39-16 win.

The Bluebirds are 8-0 and expect their toughest test of the season Friday at Moundridge. Goessel is ranked fifth in 1A Division I and Moundridge is ranked third in 2A by Kansas Basketball Coaches Association.

The Goessel boys could not get any traction in the first half at Elyria. The Eagles pushed the ball down the floor and led 13-3 at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter was not much better for the Bluebirds, but Elyria poured in 22 points to take a commanding 35-10 lead at halftime.

In the third period, Dylan Lindeman scored 6 points and Josh Schmidt slashed for 7 points, but the Eagles scored 12 from the free-throw line as the fouls mounted against the Bluebirds. Goessel cooled down in the fourth period, scoring just 5 points in the fourth period en route to a 57-28 loss.

Lindeman scored 15 of Goessel’s 28 points, and Schmidt scored 7. The boys opened play Tuesday at the Burrton tournament, with additional games Thursday and Saturday. Goessel is now 3-6 overall and 1-4 in Wheat State League games.

Tuesday

Goessel boys played at Burrton invitational tournament Tuesday and lost to Central Christian 54-34.

Goessel trailed by 19 at half time, and lost by 20.

Boys will play again in the tournament at 4:30 p.m. Thursday. They will then proceed to play again on Saturday.