aselvey@nujournal.com

GIBBON — In the debut of the new Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop gym of the new high school in Gibbon, the Firebirds started things off right with a 54-44 win over Sibley East in a nonconference girls basketball game on Monday.

“That was one of the first things we talked about right after,” GFW head coach Rich Busse said. “On the 50th anniversary of this place, they’ll ask, ‘Who played the first game here?’ … You put yourself in the record books. One of our better efforts on our part, and its nice to be able to treat everybody here to an effort like that.”

Late in the second half, GFW held a 45-40 lead with the game in the balance, but the Firebirds secured the victory with a 7-0 run, started off with a layup off a cut from Kinley Bruns, then two transition scores from Taylor Bauer as she hit a layup and a 3-pointer off of two Sibley East turnovers.

Staff photo by Ari Selvey Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop’s Kinley Bruns (4) puts up a shot over Sibley East’s Bridget Biron (10) during a nonconference girls basketball game at GFW High School in Gibbon on Monday.

“We always push our tempo,” Bruns said. “That’s one thing we struggled with in the first half, and we stayed with our tempo the whole game. Our defense playing zone then playing man too, that helped us.”

Bruns led the Firebirds with 17 points, including four 3-pointers.

“It makes you want to score a lot more,” Bruns said. “And it boosts your confidence a lot.”

Also for GFW, Keydon Buboltz had 15 points and Taylor Bauer had 11 points.

Bethany Reierson led the Wolverines with 16 points, while Bridget Biron had 12 points.

Busse said the team showed it can win in close late games.

“We’ve not had many games where we’ve had to play in those situations,” he said. “Knowing how to do it right, not get impatient, things like that. There were a couple of big plays, a back cut on some pressure where Kinley scored on a pass from Keydon, that was a big play because we were struggling to find some momentum. We didn’t let the pressure turn us over. Defensively we got our hands on a couple of balls and created some turnovers in the last three minutes. Those were some big plays that allowed us to hold on.”

Lauren Schafer started the game with a layup for GFW, and the teams battled back and forth as a 3 by Bruns was matched with a pair of 3s from Biron to give Sibley East a 9-7 lead. GFW retook the lead with a baseline shot from Buboltz, but the teams continued to trade buckets, with a 3 from Biron and an and-one putback from Buboltz setting the score at 16-16. Biron hit her fourth 3 to give the Wolverines a 19-17 lead, but GFW continued to push, with Buboltz hitting a 3 of her own to give the Firebirds a 23-19 advantage. A putback from Brynn Caspers and a pair of free throws from Buboltz put the Firebirds up 29-25 lead, but Claire Bauer hit a 3 for Sibley East just before the halftime buzzer to make it a 29-28 game.

Bruns made a 3 to start the second half, then another for a 35-28 lead. A steal and a layup from Taylor Bauer made it a 38-33 game, and the Firebirds continued to stay ahead of the Wolverines for the rest of the second half. A layup from Reierson cut the lead down to 43-39, but GFW responded with two free throws from Taylor Bauer. Reierson made a free throw of her own before GFW’s 7-0 run to seal the game. Claire Bauer made one more 3-pointer, but it wasn’t enough as GFW came away with the victory.

Bruns said the win was important for the team as it starts this new chapter in the Gibbon gym.

“It’s very nice, because it shows that we can actually do it and stay competitive the whole game,” she said.

GFW (4-21) plays at LeSueur-Henderson on Tuesday, while Sibley East (8-16) plays at Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton on Tuesday.