The Roseau Rams took a 10 point lead with six minutes left in the game, and a furious Crookston Pirate Girls Basketball rally fell short as the Rams held on for a 61-60 victory in a Section 8AA matchup in front of a big crowd at the Crookston High School gymnasium. Crookston eighth-grader, Halle Winjum, had her first varsity start while filling in for Gretchen Theis, who is out with an illness. The audience also had several Division 1 college coaches in attendance with two coaches from the University of North Dakota (Head Coach Travis Brewster and an assistant), South Dakota State University, and the University of Minnesota Crookston (Division II) was also in attendance.
FIRST HALF –
Roseau started the game with a Kayla Bachleitner three-pointer on their first possession. Crookston responded with two Hayden Winjum free throws and a nice spin move in the paint for a basket from Kasey Cwikla for a 4-0 lead. With the game tied at 5-5, Roseau went on an 8-2 run with all eight points scored by Katie Borowicz, including two steals leading to layups, for a 14-7 lead with 10:45 left in the half. “I thought our defense was strong early on,” said Roseau Coach Kelsey Didrickson. “Katie had some nice steals that led to easy points and that got us going.” Crookston battled back with a banked three-pointer from the right-wing from Hayden Winjum and an Emma Borowicz free throw. After a Roseau basket, Halle Winjum had a basket in the paint, and Dani Boyle followed with a layup after an Emma Borowicz steal and assist bringing the Pirates within a 16-15 deficit. “The girls kept competing and playing hard,” said Crookston Coach Zimmerman. ” The game was tied at 19 with less than five minutes remaining in the half when Roseau finished on a 10-5 run to take a 29-24 lead into halftime. “I thought we outplayed them at times, but we had some spots where we didn’t play well and the made some runs,” said Coach Zimmerman. “To be done by five wasn’t ideal, but we knew we could play a little better.”
SECOND HALF –
Crookston had a tremendous start to the second half with a 9-2 run in the first five minutes to take a 33-31 lead. Dani Boyle chipped in four points, Emma Borowicz had a three-point play, and Halle Winjum capped the run with a basket. The teams exchanged leads on the next two possessions and five minutes later Roseau led 44-43 when they went on a 9-0 run. Roseau was led by Katie Borowicz’s six points (four pointers were off of steals leading to layups), two free throws from Shavonda Bender and a single free throw from Morgan Boroos. “We turned the ball over too many times and that hurt us,” said Crookston Coach Zimmerman. “We didn’t get to play much defense in that stretch because we were turning it over too often and Roseau took over.” Crookston found their shooting eye when Kasey Cwikla stopped the run with a three-pointer, and Emma Borowicz followed with a three-pointer from the top of the key to get within a 53-49 deficit. Roseau built a 57-50 lead with three minutes left in the game. Crookston picked up their play the rest of the way and finished the game strong. Hayden Winjum made two free throws, and after one Roseau free throw, the Pirates Emma Borowicz made a big-time three-pointer to get within a 58-57 deficit with 42 seconds remaining. Crookston applied a full-court press and forced Roseau into a turnover to get the ball back. Hayden Winjum had a layup to give Crookston a 59-58 lead with 32.2 seconds left. “When you are down late you need to get some stops and we played really good defense,” said Pirate Coach Zimmerman. Crookston was playing tough defense when Roseau’s Kate Borowicz was fouled and made the first free throw to tie the game at 59 with 14 seconds to go. She missed the second free throw, grabbed the rebound and drove to the corner then cut on the baseline and made a reverse layup to give the Rams a 61-59 lead with 9.7 seconds remaining. “You don’t expect her to miss the free throw, but when she does miss it she gets the rebound and she got it and had a nice basket to give us the lead,” said Ram Coach Didrickson. Halle Winjum was fouled with 3.7 seconds to go, and she made one of two free throws to bring Crookston within one point. Crookston put full-court pressure on the Rams and forced a jump ball with the possession arrow in favor of Crookston. The Pirates inbounded the ball under their basket and inbounded the ball to Emma Borowicz on the block, but the pass was off her hands out of bounds with point-two seconds remaining, and Roseau held on to win the game 61-60. “We were really good in the last couple of minutes. I think if the pass would have scored. Our girls really competed. They got after it tonight, unfortunately we had a couple of stretches tonight where we didn’t play as good as we normally do and Roseau took advantage tonight,” said Pirate Coach Zimmerman. Roseau coach Didrickson said it was a great game. “It was a great game, a real battle royal with two very good teams. Crookston’s defense was great and I thought we played some good defense too. I was pleased with our defense and maybe fatigue played a factor late in the game and that is something we will have to work on over the next month.”
Crookston drops to 15-3 on the year (two losses to Roseau) and will host East Grand Forks on Thursday. Roseau improves to 15-3 on the year and will host Badger-Greenbush-Middle River on Thursday.
|  | 1st | 2nd | Final |
| Roseau | 29 | 32 | 61 |
| CROOKSTON | 24 | 36 | 60 |
| For Crookston | Points | Rebound | Steals/Assists |
| Emma Borowicz | 21 | 4 | 3 steals/2 assists |
| Hayden Winjum | 15 | 4 | 4 steals/4 blocks/3 assists |
| Halle Winjum | 9 | 9 | 3 assists |
| Dani Boyle | 6 | 5 | 3 steals |
| Kasey Cwikla | 6 | ||
| Abby Borowicz | 3 |
| For Roseau | Points |
| Katie Borowicz | 40 |
| Hannah Mooney | 7 |
| Morgan Boroos | 5 |
| Julia Braaten | 4 |
| Kayla Bachleitner | 3 |
| Shavonda Bender | 2 |
