Season Closes at Madison
Goessel Basketball – @ Madison v. Madison Bulldogs Saturday March 1, 2025
The scenic Flint Hills tonight hosted two Div IA 1 Canton sub-state contests: Goessel (13-7) v. Madison (13-7) at
Madison and Colony-Crest v. Olpe @ Olpe. Visits to Lyon County League opponents for the Bluebirds have
seen mixed success (in volleyball, football, and track). Olpe is nearly on the exact same latitude line as Goessel,
just 63 miles east. The town of Madison, 10 miles south of Olpe, is renowned for its red brick paved streets
and was founded in part as a rail stop for the ATSF line from Emporia to Howard. Madison HS is situated with a
stunning south view of the Hills with the town perched above the Verdigris River.
The visiting Colony Crest Lancers prevailed a bit unexpectedly over the host Olpe Eagles 38-34 and will advance
to the 2nd sub-state championship v Flint Hills at Canton on Friday. Flint Hills defeated Canton-Galva at home
47-41. Goessel’s game did not begin well, with the Bluebirds falling to Madison 47-32; Madison will play the
team from Little River, who defeated the Burden-Central squad 77-12, in the 1 st substate championship on
Friday.
Goessel brought a great group of fans including many parents, family members and a pep bus filled with camo-
clad enthusiastic rowdy students. Goessel would need to find a way to get past all-state Senior Jalynn Weakley.
The Bluebirds could not find a landing spot tonight in the first few minutes. Perhaps their efforts to get inside
were simply “trying too hard.” Goessel was unable to get a shot up until the 2:35 mark, with the Bulldog
defense shutting down both the interior and the perimeter. At the other end, 5’11” Weakley and 5’10”
Thompson were like pivoting inside wreaking balls going to the hoop. Coach Hoopes called two timeouts to try
to find traction but it was 0-14. Finally, at 1:26 Delaney Duerksen got a 6 footer follow to tipple in and the
disastrous 2-15 first quarter mercifully ended.
Fans were given hope in the 2 nd as the Blue finally put their beaks on the hardwood. Goessel pushed hard to
the hoop and were fouled, going 2 for 4 to bring it to 4-20. Great defensive effort kept the Bulldog bigs at bay,
however, the home team continued to churn, bringing it to 4-23, the largest lead of the night. The best
moments of this contest came with a great Aimee Funk poke and steal to go to 6-23, then a trey from
somewhere near the Olpe Chicken House from Delaney brought the house down. Another steal and coast to
coast sprint from Duerksen made it 11-25 and caused a Bulldog timeout at 2:48. Goessel’s cheer team, who
did a huge job this year inspiring all Bluebird teams, came out with “ G H S ! “ Abbigail Funk went to the
bank, dropping in a long one off the glass that caused Teter Rock to the west to shake unexpectedly. Closing to
14-25 gave everyone in attendance the opportunity to consider that this might be a game after all. The 10-2
run was the most inspirational part of tonight’s game, contributed to the 12-13 second quarter, and left it at
14-28 at the half.
The Bluebird faithful again felt a jolt of hope with a gorgeous pass tip and run down the floor from Duerksen to
stay at 16-30, but again Goessel went cold and could get nothing to fall. Duerksen swished two charities, then
launched one from pretty near downtown that jiggled in off the glass for a giant three 21-33. Timeout 1:36. It
was “Go Go Blue and White.” The Bluebirds were credited with great defense all the way around during this
stanza. At the close of the 3 rd , #20 was called for strange technical after the buzzer on a mistakenly interpreted
hard “toss left,” her third personal foul. The quarter ended 7-8 21-36.
On a break, three Bluebirds surrounded the bucket and finally Logan Bryant was able to cajole the ball in. 23-
36. At 3:26, Abbigail drained one from so far out bus driver Lindeman’s mustache immediately curled into a
heretofore unknown shape. 26-40. With time running out, it would have to be a heavy dose of threes. Goessel
fouled Junior Albert in the far corner and she drained all three charities. Immediately down the floor the
Bulldogs stopped the clock with a foul on Abbigail outside the arc and all three of her free throws had nothing
but net. 29-43. It was now too late, however, and this one was in the “deep freeze” as Aimee found the
range from out front 32-45 and the game closed at 32-47.
Goessel had not found a way to shut down or slow down Weakley, who finished with 24. Fans wondered
what the matchup will look like between her and Little River’s Feldman.
This would be the last time in a Bluebird basketball uniform for Seniors Aimee Funk, Logan Bryant, Abbigail
Funk, and Brooklyn Wuest. Thanks to Senior Adrianna Duerksen as well for her participation on the Goessel
basketball squad. Tonight Freshman Delaney Duerksen led the way for Goessel, putting up 13 points, two
threes and going three for four from the foul line. Abbigail Funk had 12 including two threes and went 4 for 5
from the charity stripe. Aimee Funk hit a giant trey in the 4 th quarter and finished with 5. Logan Bryant scored
two for the Bluebirds. It should be noted that Isabelle Alderfer participated in the prestigious KMEA
State1234 Band at Century II in Wichita the last few days and was part of a magnificent concert earlier in the
day. The concert master asked each student musician to ask their friends to be present the next time they are
there. We’re predicting Isabelle will be there and we’re asking! Isabelle was on the floor tonight helping the
Bluebird effort at Madison Also starting tonight was Abigail Johnson and helping with the team effort at both
ends of the floor were Brooklyn Wuest and Hailey Rosfeld. Madison goes to14-7 and Goessel finishes its
season 14-8.
Coach Hoopes highlighted that in nearly every game this season the Bluebirds had less length than their
opponents. He comments that he is extremely proud of the effort made by this team this year and that the
team’s performance exceeded expectations. Congratulations Lady Bluebirds for representing Goessel well and
for your hard work all year!
-Karl Brubaker
