The Crookston Pirate Girls Basketball team jumped out to a 17-2 lead at the start of the game and they cruised the rest of the way for a 63-27 victory over the East Grand Forks Green Wave in a Section 8AA game played in Crookston on Pirate Sister night.
FIRST HALF –
Crookston’s Emma Borowicz gave her team a spark early on by scoring seven of the first nine Pirate points for a 9-2 lead. The Winjum sisters took over to end the run with six straight points (four from Hayden and two from Halle) and Crookston led 17-2 with halfway through the first half. “It was a really good start for us and we came out and set the tone,” said Pirate Coach Darin Zimmerman. “It is a great night with the Pirate sisters here and our girls feed off that.” East Grand Forks’s Haley Burger scored four of the next six points and after a Pirate Abby Borowicz three-pointer, East Grand Forks’ Brynn Hillman made a three and Crookston’s lead was cut to 13 points (22-9) with over five minutes left in the half. Crookston finished the final five minutes of the half on an 8-2 run with six points scored by Halle Winjum and two points from her sister, Hayden, for a 30-11 lead at halftime. “It doesn’t matter if Halle starts or comes off the bench, she is a very good player and she keeps getting better and better,” said Coach Zimmerman. “Defensively, I thought we played a very good half. I thought we did better with our rebounding.”
SECOND HALF –
East Grand Forks started the second half strong with a 7-2 run behind five points from Maddy Manger. Crookston led 32-18 when they went on a 10-0 run with five different players (Hayden Winjum, Abby Borowicz, Halley Winjum, and Dani Boyle) all scoring for a 42-18 lead six minutes into the half. “I think we had a good wake up call early on when they went on the run,” said Coach Zimmerman. “We had to burn a time out and after that, things picked up and the girls responded. I wasn’t very happy and the girls weren’t very happy.” East Grand Forks stopped the Pirate run with four straight points, but Crookston answered with nine straight points behind two points each from Halle Winjum, Emma Boll, Jenna Coauette, and a three-pointer from 51-22 with seven minutes left in the game. The teams went deeper into the bench with about four minutes left in the game and Crookston continued to pull away for a 63-27 victory. “I thought our bench played well all night long,” said Coach Zimmerman. “I thought Madison Hoiland came in and played well. I thought Jenna played good for us and showed some good things, especially with some nice drives.”
Crookston improves to 16-3 on the year and will travel to Moorhead High School gymnasium on Saturday to play undefeated and #7 ranked Pelican Rapids at 6:00 p.m. East Grand Forks drops to 5-12 on the year.
J.V. – EGF won 39-34 C Squad – EGF won 26-24
1st | 2nd | Final | |
East Grand Forks | 11 | 16 | 27 |
CROOKSTON | 30 | 33 | 63 |
For Crookston | Points | Rebound | Steals/Assists |
Hayden Winjum | 15 | 8 | 3 steals/3 assists |
Halle Winjum | 14 | 3 | 3 steals/2 assists |
Emma Borowicz | 9 | 5 | 2 assists/2 steals |
Dani Boyle | 8 | 3 | 2 steals |
Abby Borowicz | 7 | ||
Jenna Coauette | 4 | ||
Emma Boll | 2 | ||
Kasey Cwikla | 2 | 5 | |
Ally Perreault | 2 |
For East Grand Forks | Points |
Haley Burger | 14 |
Maddy Manger | 5 |
Brynn Hillman | 3 |
Halle Carpenter | 2 |
Ella Eggers | 2 |
Riley Regorrah | 1 |