The Crookston Pirate Girls Basketball team used two decent runs and solid defense to beat the Thief River Falls Prowlers 67-56 in a Section 8AA matchup at the Crookston High School gymnasium.
FIRST HALF
Crookston jumped out to a 4-1 lead with a Brooklyn Waldal basket and two Chloe Boll free throws. TRF’s Taylor Berg made a basket before Chloe Boll answered for a 6-3 lead. TRF answered with a Piper Greene three-pointer to tie the game. The teams battled back-and-forth, and Crookston led 14-12 when they went on a 13-2 run led by Madi Bruggeman’s 5 points, four points each from Brooklyn Waldal and Chloe Boll, for a 27-14 lead with 8:04 left in the half. Four minutes later, TRF cut the Crookston lead down to eight points (30-22) with four minutes to go. Crookston ended the half on a 9-1 run with Chloe Boll scoring six points, Grace Boll adding two, and Halle Nicholas had one, and the Pirates took a 39-23 lead into halftime.
SECOND HALF
Thief River Falls scored the first five points of the second half when Berg made a basket and Braylee Wienen made a three-pointer. Crookston’s Grace Boll responded with a three-pointer, but picked up her fourth foul of the game and had to sit for a large portion of the second half. A few minutes later, Crookston led 46-30 when TRF’s Berg made two three-pointers to spark a 10-2 run to get within a 48-40 deficit. Crookston responded in a big way as they scored six points with one free throw apiece from Bruggeman and Nicholas and four points from Chloe Boll for a 54-40 lead with 10:49 left in the game. The rest of the game was choppy with a lot of fouls, turnovers, and missed shots. That seemed to help Thief River Falls, as they got within a 64-54 with four minutes left in the game. Each Crookston offensive possession was lengthy as they worked the ball around and ran the shot clock down each time to help eat the clock and held on for a 67-56 victory.
The win was a big one for Crookston because it gives them the tiebreaker over Thief River Falls in the section standings.
Crookston improves to 5-15 on the year and will take on undefeated Menahga on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. The boys will follow at 3:30 p.m. TRF drops to 5-15 on the year.
JV – TRF won 45-36
| 1st | 2nd | Final | |
| Thief River Falls | 23 | 33 | 56 |
| Crookston | 39 | 28 | 67 |
| For Crookston | Points | Rebounds | Misc. |
| Chloe Boll | 24 | 7 | 3 steals/2 assists |
| Madi Bruggeman | 18 | 11 | 2 steals |
| Grace Boll | 12 | 5 | 3 steals/2 assists |
| Brooklyn Waldal | 10 | 2 | 2 steals |
| Halle Nicholas | 3 | 4 steals |
| For Thief River Falls | Points |
| Taylor Berg | 25 |
| Piper Greene | 7 |
| Karena Bakken | 6 |
| Harper Vigen | 6 |
| Alli Grosz | 5 |
| Braylee Wienen | 3 |
| Aniyah Fields | 2 |
| Kendall Zerr | 2 |
