The Crookston Pirate Girls Basketball team had 20 first-half steals and over 30 in the game as they cruised to a 61-22 victory over the Roseau Rams in a Section 8AA matchup in Roseau.
FIRST HALF
Crookston used their suffocating defense to force a bunch of turnovers and outscored Roseau 14-2 in the first eight minutes of the game. Emma Borowicz’s six points led the Pirates, Ally Perreault added four points, Emma Boll chipped in three, and Halle Winjum had one point in the run. “That was a great start again, defensively,” said Pirate Coach Darin Zimmerman. “That is what we want every game. The girls came out and played great defense and had active hands. Offensively, we weren’t as sharp, but we didn’t need to be.”
Crookston continued to use their defensive pressure to record a whopping 20 first-half steals and cruised to a 37-13 lead at halftime. “Defensively, we were solid, and when you get steals like that, you are going to get some transition baskets, and that happened,” said Coach Zimmerman.
SECOND HALF
Crookston started the second half on a 10-2 run with Emma Borowicz recording five points, Abby Borowicz had three, and Emma Boll added two points for a 47-15 lead with over 14 minutes remaining. The Pirates took a 57-21 lead with about eight minutes left in the game, and that forced running time the rest of the game. “We were trying to treat every possession the same,” said Coach Zimmerman. “We were trying to keep the intensity up, and even though it isn’t easy to do that, I thought we did a good job of that.” Crookston’s defensive pressure was too much for Roseau as they only scored nine second-half points and had over 35 turnovers in the game. Crookston was able to get everybody in the game, and they cruised to a 61-22 victory. The victory was the first in Roseau for Pirate Coach Darin Zimmerman, who is in his sixth year as head coach. “It is my first win up here,” said Coach Zimmerman. “We have had a couple of good games up here, but there were some tough losses up here too. It was nice to get the first win up here, that is for sure.”
Crookston improves to 11-3 on the year and will travel to Thief River Falls on Friday. Roseau drops to 5-10 on the year, and they will play Warroad on Friday.
J.V. – Roseau won 44-43 C Squad – Roseau won 44-6
| 1st | 2nd | Final | |
| CROOKSTON | 37 | 24 | 61 |
| Roseau | 13 | 9 | 22 |
| For Crookston | Points | Rebounds | Assists/Steals |
| Emma Borowicz | 15 | 3 | 7 steals/4 assists |
| Hayden Winjum | 12 | 6 | 9 steals/4 assists |
| Emma Boll | 10 | 4 | |
| Ally Perreault | 10 | 2 steals | |
| Halle Winjum | 7 | 7 steals/6 assists | |
| Abby Borowicz | 3 | 3 | 3 assists/2 steals |
| Jenna Coauette | 2 | 2 steals | |
| Amelia Overgaard | 2 |
| For Roseau | Points |
| Julia Braaten | 15 |
| Shavonda Bender | 4 |
| Anya Severson | 3 |
