An improved defensive effort helped spark the the Firebirds offensively as four players finished in double figures on the way to a 69-35 win over the Madelia Blackhawks in a Tomahawk-Valley Conference crossover girls basketball game.

The Firebirds nearly had a fifth player finish in double figures as senior Keyden Buboltz had 9 points, but the shots were there for the team in the second half as they widened the gap.

“The result of that is a constant conversation of, ‘Find the best shot,'” Busse said. “We saw Kinley [Bruns] a few times in the first half ramrod it right into the paint, turn it over. It was like, ‘Why are you doing that? You’ve got a teammate wide open over here.’ So eventually they started to catch on that if they make one more pass, somebody else was always open and I think that’s the result of a balanced scoring attack.”

Taylor Bauer and Kinley Bruns led the Firebirds with 14 points apiece, while Kelby Bruns had 13 and Kelly Willegal added 10.

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Madelia’s Grace Tatro (21) goes up for a shot in the paint while guarded by GFW’s Keyden Buboltz during Monday's girls basketball game at Madelia High School.

GFW junior Lauren Schafer finished with 2 points, coming from the foul line, but Busse was happy with her control of the ball and getting it out to open shooters in the game.

“Taylor Bauer did a good job I thought of attacking the rim and a couple others started to catch on,” Busse said. “Lauren Schafer was really learning how to play varsity basketball. She’s tough, which is what I like, so now you can throw it to her and she catches it strong, and she started realizing, ‘Oh, I can get it to other people just by catching it strong,’ and I think that’s why you see four or five girls scoring 9 to 13 points because we were good about, ‘Let’s find the next open person.'”

Madelia was led by Alicia Lugo’s 17 points, while Grace Tatro had 14 points.

Lugo did all she could to keep the Blackhawks from falling too far behind early on as she scored 9 of the team’s first 11 points, but a bucket inside by Buboltz had the Firebirds up 21-11 with seven minutes to play in the first half. Tatro got going right after with a pump fake and finish in the lane, but Kinley Bruns sank her second 3 of the game to put the Firebirds back in front by double digits, 24-13. Tatro kept things going on the inside with another bucket moments later, but a 3 by Kelby Bruns gave GFW a 27-15 lead. Lugo hit a 3 with 10 seconds left in the half to have Madelia down 30-22, but Willegal sank a near-half court, buzzer-beating 3 to give the Firebirds a 33-22 lead at the half.

GFW started the second half with a Kinley Bruns-to-Bauer bucket in transition and a Bauer steal for a layup, but another bucket inside by Tatro prompted Busse to take a timeout and stress the importance of his players staying aggressive and going after the ball.

“They needed a reminder because we lost it as we walked through the doors coming out [of the half],” Busse said. “Then after that I think, for a good 10 minutes, played really intent basketball where we were just, ‘All right, what do I need to do? Where do I want to force them?’ … That’s what that timeout was about.”

After the timeout, Kinley Bruns buried a straightaway 3 and Bauer had another steal for a layup for a 42-24 lead.

Bauer said communication was key in the team’s second-half takeaways and improved offense.

“We talk a lot and help each other out where people are,” Bauer said. “The defense, we’re passing the ball, we say, ‘You’ve got it, you’ve got it.’ And then I got back for help.”

Tatro scored inside twice after that, but a Madelia scoring drought of more than seven minutes followed as the Firebirds pushed the lead to 61-28 on a 3 from Kelby Bruns, capping off a 17-0 run. A bucket inside from Jazmin Sanchez ended Madelia’s long scoring drought, but a free throw by Kinley Bruns, a putback bucket by Annie Wersal and a corner 3 by Kelby Bruns had GFW up 67-30 in running time, the largest lead of the night. Wersal had another putback bucket in the closing minutes for GFW as Lugo added Madelia’s final 5 points of the night.

GFW (1-3) hosts Wabasso on Tuesday night in a Tomahawk Division game, while Madelia (0-2) is at Nicollet for a Valley Division game Thursday night.