MISSED FREE THROWS COST CROOKSTON GIRLS IN LOSS AT FERGUS FALLS

The pre-season favorite to win Section 8AA, Fergus Falls matched Crookston’s defensive intensity and used the athleticism and shot making ability of Ellie Colbeck (D-1 South Dakota State commit) and Tori Ratz, a pair of juniors who combined for 35 points to lead the Otters to a 44-37 win in a Section 8AA tilt in Fergus Falls.

First Half
The Crookston Pirate Girl’s Basketball team came into the game with seven straight wins and were 7-1 while their opponent the Fergus Falls Otters who were 5-3 on the year, but ranked #9 in the latest Minnesota State Class AA polls!!
The Otters showed early that they could match the defensive intensity that the Pirates have showed in their first eight games. The Pirates didn’t hit double digits in scoring until there were seven minutes to go in the first half, but at the same time, Fergus Falls was only able to score 15 points in that period.
Fergus Falls showed a lot of physicality, plus being ultra-athletic which is a tough combination. The game was close most of the first half until Fergus Falls had a little 7-0 run with about 10 minutes to go to take a 15-8 lead. The Otters Ellie Colbeck, one of the top guards in the state, put on a bit of a show late scoring seven points in the last seven minutes and Fergus Falls went into the locker room at half leading 22-13. Free throw were a bit of a problem for Crookston making 2 of 6 in the first half. “It took us awhile to get established in the game,” said Crookston head coach, Darin Zimmerman, “we weren’t setting up our offense. Our girl’s have a high basketball IQ but we didn’t react to a couple of their players for sure in Colbeck and Ratz. I thought we were still limiting them as we held them to 22 points.”During the recent seven game winning streak, Crookston has never been held to 13 points in a half, “both teams play OK defense,” said Zimmerman, “we needed to slow down the play and keep challenging them.”

Second Half
Crookston came out strong in the second half, both on the defensive and offensive sides of the ball and went on a 10-4 run with eight of those points scored by Emma Borowicz and two from Emma Boll.  Crookston trailed 26-23 with just over 11 minutes left in the game. “We were doing exactly what we had to do,” said Coach Zimmerman, “Our defense picked it up, and that ties into our offense, but I don’t think we were in rhythm the whole night.”
Crookston missed a couple of free throws and were 2 of 12 at the free-throw line and trailing 29-23 with 9:04 left!!
Fergus Falls answered with a Ratz three-pointer and after a Boll offensive rebound for a basket, Ratz hit another three for a 32-25 Otter lead.   
Emma Borowicz was able to make one of two free throws, followed by a steal and drive through the lane for a basket for Hayden Winjum and her first points of the game. Emma Borowicz continued to be hot in the second half with a nice drive and basket and Crookston trailed 32-30 with 4:43 to go. After Boll made two free throws to cut the Otter’s lead to 34-32, Colbeck answered with a bit three-point shot and Fergus Falls led 37-32 with three and a half minutes left. “Emma Boll is finding her game,” said Zimmerman, “she was under control the whole game and can be really tough inside.”
Colbeck would make one of two free throws herself and with 1:30 left, the Otters widen the lead to 38-32 with a minute 16 left and Crookston called a time out. A couple of seconds later Colbeck was fouled and made both free throws for her 20th point of the game and the lead was 40-32.
Crookston’s Hayden Winjum came back and scored to cut the lead to 40-34 with 44 seconds left. The Otter’s Logan Strom was fouled and made both free throws for her first points and the lead was 42-34, matching the biggest lead of the game for Fergus Falls.
Abby Borowicz made a three-point shot to make it 43-37 with 16 seconds left in the game, making it a two-possession game. Fergus Falls was fouled with six seconds to go with a free throw by Anna Anderson making it 44-37 and that also would be the final. Crookston ended the game going 5-16 at the free-throw line. “We work on free throws every day in practice,” said Zimmerman. “There were a number of things, but number one is we have to keep working on it as there were multiple times the free throws could have kept our momentum.”

With the loss Crookston is 7-2 on the season and will travel to  Stephen-Argyle on Tuesday with the Storm currently 8-0 on the year. “This is quite a stretch for us right now with Pelican Rapids earlier, tonight at Fergus Falls and then Stephen-Argyle who is one of the better teams in Section 8A. We set the schedule up by design as we want these types of games to get ready for the Section Tournament.”
Fergus Falls improves to 6-3 on the season and will be at Bemidji on Thursday.
JV – Fergus Falls won 64-45  C-Squad –  Crookston won 29-22