Area prep teams spend week in early-season tournaments

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN

AREA BOYS

Goessel 83, Peabody-Burns 48

The Bluebirds won their second game of the young season by defeating the Warriors at Peabody, 83-48, Dec. 9.

Goessel was clinging to a five-point lead, 45-40, midway through the third quarter, but expanded their lead to 60-44 at the end of the quarter.

A 23-4 burst in the fourth quarter, provided the final margin of victory.

Goessel shot 10 of 15 free throws, while Peabody-Burns connected on only one of two.

Four Bluebirds scored in double figures, led by Jeremy Voth with 22 and Clinton Plenert with 21. Philip Unruh led three Warriors in double figures with 13.

Goessel 77, Mankato 41

Goessel defeated Mankato behind a strong defensive effort Friday. Goessel led by 24 at halftime and continued to play well throughout the game.

Five players reached double digits for the Bluebirds, led by Jeremy Voth with 18. Clinton Plenert added 13, Kent Peters 12, and Aaron Stehman 10.

Minneapolis 74, Goessel 69

The Lions handed the Bluebirds their first loss of the season Saturday. This hard-fought battle saw Minneapolis lead by 15 early in the third quarter, but the lead evaporated into a Goessel 45-44 advantage.

The Lions were able to maintain a three to six point lead most of the fourth quarter. For the Bluebirds, Jeremy Voth scored 26, Kent Peters 21 and Clinton Plenert added 10.

“We let up the last half of the second quarter” said coach Justin Coup. “But the rest of the game was super.”

Mo’ridge 62, Canton-Galva 37

Moundridge used a decided advantage from the charity stripe to defeat the Canton-Galva Eagles, 62-37, Tuesday night in the Moundridge Tournament.

Moundridge paraded to the free-throw stripe 33 times, hitting 22, while Canton-Galva was awarded only nine tosses and hit four. Trailing 15-11 at the end of quarter one, Moundridge stretched its lead to 30-17 at the half.

Moundridge went on for the easy 25 point victory.

Brice Loganbill led Moundridge with 17 followed by Nate Graber with 16. Shelby Hoppes was top scorer for the Eagles with 11.

Canton-Galva 43, Sterling 37

Canton-Galva notched a victory over Sterling Thursday. Ryan Schmidt nailed three 3-pointers and had 13 points to lead the Eagles. Marcus Pitts popped five 3s for Sterling.

Centre 67, Hope 51

Centre rode the offense of Todd Stahlecker to a win over Hope. Stahlecker scored 28 points for the Cougars.

Hope led 42-41 heading into the final quarter, but Stahlecker and Curtis Gutsch combined for 16 fourth-quarter points. As a team, Centre dominated the final stanza 26-9, to win going away.

Gutsch and teammate Justin Gerrard finished the night with 16 each.

Herington 63, Centre 56

Curtis Gutsch scored 22 for Centre, but it wasn’t enough as Herington went on for the win. Travis Burns and Todd Stahlecker added 11 for the Cougars.

Centre led by seven after one quarter and 29-25 at the half, but a 23-9 surge by Herington in the third quarter proved fatal for the Cougars.

Centre 58, Northern Heights 46

Todd Stahlecker led Centre with 23 points in their victory over Northern Heights. Curtis Gutsch tallied 14 and Justin Gerrard added 11 for the Cougars.

Centre steadily increased their lead throughout the night, leading by four after one, and 28-18 at the half. The third quarter saw the lead expand to 16, at 43-27 before Northern Heights was able to cut the deficit late in the game.

AREA GIRLS

Goessel 62, Peabody-Burns 34

Goessel built a 14-point lead by halftime, and went to a comfortable victory in the first round of the Bennington Classic.

Peabody-Burns played even with Goessel in the third quarter, but a strong Goessel defense propelled the Birds down the stretch to the eventual final 28-point margin.

Goessel’s Melinda Stucky lead all scorers with 22, followed by Tara Goerzen and Darla Funk with 12 and 10 respectively. Peabody-Burns was led in scoring by Marie Unruh with 14.

Goessel 52, Mankato 36

A late Bluebird surge made a seven-point lead balloon to the final margin of victory.

Melinda Stucky led Goessel with 18, followed by Tara Goerzen with 14. With the win, Goessel remained undefeated at 3-0.

Goessel 56, Minneapolis 45

Goessel returned to action Saturday night in Bennington and defeated Minneapolis to move to 4-0.

The Bluebirds were able to build a commanding 17-point lead before the Lions whittled it back to six.

Goessel regrouped and finished strong to win going away.

Tara Goerzen led Goessel with 21 points and got strong support from Melinda Stucky with 18.

Solomon 51, Peabody-Burns 39

Jumping to a 15-8 lead at the end of the first quarter, Solomon never trailed in their game with the Warriors.

Trading points throughout the second and third quarters, the score stood at 34-27 heading into the final stanza. Solomon outscored the Warriors by five in the final period to attain victory.

Gretchen Burns dumped in 14 points and Casey Berger added 12 for Peabody-Burns.

Herington 53, Centre 36

Centre squared off with Herington, in the opening round of the Herington Pre-Season Tournament.

After trailing only 8-5 after one quarter, Herington rolled to a 19-4 advantage in the second stanza and a halftime lead of 27-9.

Herington stretched its lead to 44-19 after three before Centre chopped the lead back to the final margin.

The free-throw fest was won by Herington as they connected on 17 of 40 attempts for the game while Centre was successful on only foru of 18.

Laura Klenda and Raschelle Jirak paced Centre with eight points each.

Hope 62, Centre 38

Hope defeated the Centre Cougars in the Herington Tournament.

Ashlee Bowman paced Centre with 12. Centre led 15-9 after one quarter, but was outscored 20-9 in the second.

Half number two found Hope outscoring Centre 33-14 to account for the final margin.

Mo’ridge 93, Canton-Galva 21

A young Canton-Galva team was no match for Moundridge Tuesday evening

Moundridge scored early and often, and led 28-4 after one quarter and 50-10 at the half. It got no better in the third quarter as Canton-Galva was unable to score a single point while Moundridge tacked on an additional 24 to lead 74-10.

Lindsey Vogts led five Moundridge players in double figures with 22. Clari Becker was the top scorer for Canton-Galva with eight.

Sterling 64, Canton-Galva 30

Sterling defeated Canton-Galva Thursday night. Ashley Unruh connected on two 3-pointers to finish with 14 to lead Canton-Galva. Courtney Goad led Sterling with 13.

Sterling led 28-16 at the half.

Canton-Galva was able to connect on only three of 14 from the charity stripe.

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