The Crookston Pirate Girls Basketball team couldn’t find answers for the Wadena-Deer Creek offense as they fell by a score of 72-45 at the Crookston High School Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon.
FIRST HALF
The first half started with a slower pace, as after 4 minutes the Wolverines had a measly 5-2 lead. The Pirates used baskets from Madi Bruggeman and Chloe Boll to hang close with the Wolverines, cutting the lead back down to 1 at 7-6 and 9-8. The Pirates were able to keep the lead down to 2 at 14-12, but then a 3-pointer from Karlee Sweere and a layup from Lily Parker put the Wolverines up by 7 at 19-12. From there, the lead stayed roughly where it was due to the Pirates doing a great job drawing fouls, and going 7 of 8 from the foul line. This kept the lead at 289-20 with 2:54 to go. However, the Wolverines pulled away for their best spurt of the game, ending the half on an 11-1 run. They used 3-pointers from Karlee Sweere and Ashley Pavek to propel them, and the Wolverines took a 39-21 lead into the locker room for halftime.
SECOND HALF
In the second half, the Wolverines quickly established a 20-point lead with another 3-pointer, this time from Payton Gravelle, who led all Wolverine scorers with 16 points. After the Pirates did not hit a 3-pointer in the entire first half, but began to hit them at the start of the second half, including back-to-back 3-pointers from Chloe Boll to cut the WDC lead to 48-30. Unfortunately for the Pirates, they were unable to close the lead any further than this. WDC senior Jada Dykhoff, who was 0 for her first 8 from three, made two in a row to put the Wolverines back up 24 at 54-30, and the lead stayed within the 20’s for the remainder of the game. The Pirates did some things right on offense, including getting 3 players in double figures and hitting 4 3-pointers in the half, but the defense couldn’t stop the dynamite Wolverine offense, and they were able to cruise to a 72-45 victory.
Crookston falls to 4-13 on the year. WDC is now 14-4 on the season.
JV – WDC won 19-14
| 1st | 2nd | Final | |
| Wadena-Deer Creek | 39 | 33 | 72 |
| Crookston | 21 | 24 | 45 |
| For Crookston | Points | Rebounds | Misc. |
| Chloe Boll | 17 | 7 | 1 steal |
| Madi Bruggeman | 10 | 7 | 2 assists |
| Brooklyn Waldal | 10 | 3 | 2 asissts/1 steal |
| Grace Boll | 4 | 2 | 2 steals/2 blocks/1 assist |
| Morgan Boll | 4 | 4 | 1 assist/1 steal |
| For Wadena-Deer Creek | Points |
| Payton Gravelle | 16 |
| Ashley Pavek | 11 |
| Kennedy Ness | 10 |
| Lily Parker | 9 |
| Karlee Sweere | 8 |
| Jada Dykhoff | 8 |
| Callie Roeder | 5 |
| Tori Mallak | 5 |
