By DELBERT PETERS

Staff writer

After winning a nail-biter last Tuesday, Goessel’s boys lost Friday and held on to win Saturday, finishing third in the Bluebird Classic.

Draining eight three-pointers, the Bluebirds led from start to finish in Saturday’s 45-34 victory over Central Christian.

Timothy Schrag hit two in the first quarter. The Bluebirds led by eight at half. Caiden Duerksen and Skyler Wuest did all the Goessel scoring in the third quarter, building a 41-29 lead. Caleb Burkholder dropped in a three, and Jevin Base concluded Goessel’s scoring with a free throw. Wuest led Goessel with 15.

Duerksen poured in 20 in the contest with Elyria Christian. The Bluebirds were cold from the field and trailed after the first quarter. The Eagles played a deliberate, slow-paced game in the fourth quarter, protecting their lead. Goessel was unable to cut into it and lost, 52-40.

Last Tuesday, Goessel led by as many as 12 points early in the third quarter, but Little River chipped away and took a one point lead with 2:30 to play. Little River made two free-throws with 19 seconds left, but a lane violation nullified the last point, After a timeout, Wuest raced through traffic on the baseline and hit a three from the right corner with three seconds to play, and Goessel won, 39-38. Duerksen led Goessel’s scorers with 18.

The boys, now 3-1, will play Udall at home Friday.

Girls

The Bluebird girls lost Friday and last Tuesday but recovered Saturday to place fifth in the Bluebird Classic.

Cheyenne Sawyer hit three threes in the first quarter to stake to Bluebirds to an 11-1 lead over Canton-Galva. The long range barrage continued in the second quarter, and the Bluebirds led 27-7 at half. Although only scoring 13 points in the second half, Goessel won, 40-18.

Sawyer was the leading scorer with 15.

Friday’s game against Elyria Christian started out lopsided, with the Eagles leading 11-1 at the end of the first quarter.

The highlight of the evening for the Bluebirds was a Jaicee Griffin three at the buzzer to end the first half. Goessel trailed, 18-10, and that would be the last field goal for the rest of the game for the Bluebirds.

Goessel shot a respectable 60% from the free-throw line, but every field goal attempt was contested by a taller Elyria team, which won 33-17.

Griffin and Sarah Spurlin led Goessel scorers with five each.

The girls fell to a taller Little River team 50-21 last Tuesday. Cheyenne Sawyer led the Bluebirds with 10.

The girls will have a home game Friday against Udall.