CROOKSTON GIRL’S BASKETBALL DROPS OPENER 63-57 TO BRECKENRIDGE IN OT

The Crookston Pirates Girl’s Basketball team rallied from an eight-point deficit in the final three minutes of regulation to force overtime before falling 63-57 to the Breckenridge Cowgirls in a Section 8AA game played at the Crookston High School gymnasium.

FIRST HALF
The Crookston Pirates jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in their season opener when Abby Borowicz stole the ball creating a two-on-one feeding Hayden Winjum for the layup. It would be the Pirates’ only lead until late in the game. Both teams missed failed to score over the next three minutes before Carcie Materi hit a three-pointer with 14:56 to play in the half to give the Cowgirls a 3-2 lead and sparked an 11-2 run over the next two minutes as Breckenridge built an 11-4 lead with 12:58 to play. “We just weren’t consistent on enough defensive possessions,” said Pirates Coach Darin Zimmerman. “I thought overall we probably played pretty good defense. There was a couple of multiple little runs and it was nice we didn’t give up any big ones, but those little ones hurt too and they had just enough of them. Our defensive consistency just wasn’t quite there tonight.” Breckenridge would push their lead to eight points before Abby Borowicz hit a three from the left corner to cut the lead to 17-12. The Pirates would pull within one when Halle Winjum hit a layup on a fast break with 1:24 left to play in the half Materi hit a three from the corner to send the Pirates into the locker room at halftime trailing 28-24. Breckenridge was led in the first half by 12 points from Jude Held. “She found her comfort zone behind the arc,” said Zimmerman. “We knew coming in she was a good shooter. I think she hit four threes against us last year down there in the regular-season finale. She’s a kid we can’t lose and to many possession, she got off a good look. She’s too good of a player to let that happen.”

SECOND HALF
Halle Winjum would open the second half scoring with a bucket to cut the lead to two and the Pirates stayed within four points of the Cowgirls over the next eight minutes as the two teams before Halle Winjum forced a turnover in the backcourt and Abby Borowicz picked up the loose ball driving to the rim for a basket and the foul to tie the game 36-36 with 9:43 to play in regulation. Borowicz hit the free throw to complete the three-point play and give the Pirates their first lead since the opening basket at 37-36. Seventh-grader Johnica Bernotas would hit a three with 8:46 to play to reclaim the lead for Breckenridge before Emma Borowicz hit a three with 7:37 to play to give Crookston its last lead in regulation at 40-39. Hayden Winjum’s defense helped keep the Pirates in the game as she had five second-half steals to keep the game close. “Hayden was really good defensively pretty much all night,” said Zimmerman. “She got a little fatigued. It’s early in the season and she played a lot of minutes. She’s a tough kid and her conditioning is just going to improve. You’re going to see her getting a little stronger every game. She’s such a difference-maker for us defensively because she’s able to guard pretty much every spot on the floor and able to wreak havoc and disrupt so many things. She got in a lot of passing lanes and disrupted ball handlers tonight.” Breckenridge would go on a 12-3 run over the next five and a half minutes as they built a 51-43 lead. “We got pretty lethargic during that time both offensively and defensively,” said Zimmerman. “They were able to score some easy points. It was probably the best they looked, during that stretch, and probably the worst we looked defensively. That’s not a good combination to have late in the game.” With 1:59 to play Halle Winjum drove off the right-wing to cut the lead to six. The Pirates worked hard over the final two minutes applying the full-court press. Coming out of a timeout Abby Borowicz stole the inbound pass and took it to the rim to cut the lead 51-47. Breckenridge would inbound the pass again and Borowicz immediately knocked the ball loose where Emma Borowicz would pick it up and score to make it 51-49. The Pirates would tie the game with 50 seconds left in regulation when Emma Borowicz found Emma Boll at the left block for two. “We dug ourselves a hole and had to exert a lot of energy to get back into it,” said Zimmerman. “It started with Abby Borowicz doing a really nice job. We were putting some pressure on with the press and Abby had really active hands getting a steal or two there. You saw another bounce in our step after that. That’s the way we’re accustomed to playing – good, clean, hard basketball, beating people to the spot. It took us a long time, almost 33 minutes to get to that.” Following a Cowgirls turnover with 43 seconds to play the Pirates had a chance to win the game. Following a timeout with 18 seconds to play, the inbound pass was too tall for Halle Winjum and the Cowgirls picked it up. However, the Pirates were able to turn the Cowgirls over again with 12 seconds to play at midcourt when Boll stripped Materi and Halle Winjum picked up the ball. However, a traveling call would give the ball back to Breckenridge for a chance at the final shot, but the Pirates applied a lot of pressure defensively as they had all half and the Cowgirls were unable to get a shot off, ending regulation tied 51-51. 

OVERTIME
Abigail Johnson would open the scoring in overtime going one-for-two at the free-throw line to give Breckenridge a 52-51 lead before Abby Borowicz hit a three from the left wing to give the Pirates a 54-52 lead with 2:35 to play. Breckenridge would answer immediately Grace Conzemius hit a three with 2:10 to play sparking leading to a 9-0 run to capped by Held’s first basket since the first half with 29 seconds to play making the score 61-54. “Abby hit that big shot to give us the lead,” said Zimmerman. “And certainly with a short time like overtime is, you want to play with the lead. We basically trailed all game. We just needed to get a few stops after that and it could’ve changed things.” The Pirates would pull with four with 12 seconds to play when Boll dove to the floor for an offensive rebound and kicked out to Emma Borowicz for three. “Offensively we were kind of challenged all night,” said Zimmerman. “We missed some easy ones that could’ve probably changed some things. I thought the girls did a good job of finding some gaps here and there. There were some easy scores we just didn’t convert on. Overall, I think it was more of a lack of execution in terms of ball movement, making sure we finish our cut and have good spacing. So many times we were trying to penetrate and there was nothing there because everybody was on top of each other, they were clogging the lane and we just weren’t finding the open person.” Held would make two free throws with 8 seconds to play to ice the game 63-57. 

The game is available for replay below, varsity game starts at 1:09:00 – 

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