CROOKSTON GIRL’S BASKETBALL SAIL PAST THE ROSEAU RAMS

The Crookston Pirate Girl’s Basketball team had 25 steals and got 40 combined points from Emma Borowicz and Emma Osborn as they beat the Roseau Rams 73-29 in a Section 8AA game at Crookston High School Tuesday night.  Roseau’s top player, Katie Borowicz, graduated high school early and is currently playing for the Minnesota Golden Gophers. 

1st Half
The Crookston Pirates opened the game on a 20-0 run over the first nine minutes including 10 from Borowicz. The Rams were finally able to work the ball inside to Shavonda Bender who drew a foul and hit one of two free throws to get the Rams on the board with 9:00 minutes to play. Morgan Boroos would hit an 8-foot jumper with 6:50 to go in the half to make it 23-3 and give the Rams their first field goal of the game. “A lot of the points early on were coming off of turnovers,” said Pirates Coach Darin Zimmerman. “We didn’t really start to stretch the floor until the 9 or 10-minute mark. It started with being in the right position and not trying to do too much on the defensive end. Hayden got it started with that steal to start the game and turned into an easy two. And we just kind of able to do that from there on out.” Following the Boroos bucket, both teams started to get more offense going as the two teams combined for 34 points over the final 6:30 of the half and the Pirates built a 46-14 halftime lead.  Emma Borowicz led all scorers with 17 first-half points and Hayden Winjum added 10 for the Pirates. “Emma Borowicz shot exceptionally from behind the arc tonight,” said Zimmerman. “She had an outstanding game but it wasn’t just her. I thought everybody started stepping up at least looking to shoot outside shots. We were maybe a little passive in that regard to start the game but once we got going we were pretty good.” Despite the great start, the Pirates were just 7-14 at the free-throw line in the first half. “Free-throw wise that’s an area we have to improve in,” said Zimmerman. “On one hand, it was nice we shot a lot of free throws tonight. We were able to attack and get to the line quite a bit but you have to convert. You have to make those shots. On the flip side, we had too many silly fouls from a defensive standpoint in the first half. As a whole, defensively we were very good. We held them to one shot for most of the first half but there were some uncharacteristic fouls too. We have to clean those things up. It just comes down to doing the little things right.” 

2nd Half
The Pirates would open the second half with a 14-4 run over the first 6:37 build a 42-point lead at 60-18 capped by a free throw from Halle Winjum. “We tried a couple of different things with more of a half-court defense to start the second half,” said Zimmerman. “We still wanted to be aggressive in it because you can still play lights out defense and get transition points going play half-court defense which I think we were able to do once we got rolling in the second half a little bit. When you play good defense, work hard, and limit teams to one shot, you’re going to get opportunities to score. We were fortunate to get in the passing lanes better than we have all season and most possessions we had multiple attacks at the basket.” Borowicz added 10 points in the second half, Emma Osborn had 9 points, and Amelia Overgaard came off the bench for four late points as the Pirates but their lead as high as 46 en route to a 73-29 victory. Coach Zimmerman said all three Emmas – Borowicz, Osborn, and Boll – had a big night for the Pirates. “All the Emmas are solid players,” said Zimmerman. “Emma Boll had a really good night for us. She picked up two fouls but then all of a sudden she came back, blocked some shots, and played really smart after that. Emma Osborn is a lights-out shooter. She has probably the fastest release on the team and probably hasn’t even shot as well as she can yet. She’s still finding that groove early in the season. We saw all aspects of her game tonight. She did a good job of dribble-driving in. She ran the floor well, so she got some points in transition. Every game so far she’s added to what she can do and brings another dimension to our team.” 

Crookston improves to 4-1 on the season and will travel to take on the East Grand Forks Green Wave on Thursday for a Section 8AA matchup.
Roseau falls to 0-3 and will host East Grand Forks on Saturday. 

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