CROOKSTON GIRL’S BASKETBALL OVERCOMES OFF SHOOTING NIGHT IN WIN OVER STEPHEN-ARGYLE

The Crookston Pirate Girl’s Basketball team overcame an off shooting night to win a defensive battle 57-49 win over the Stephen-Argyle Storm in a game played at the Crookston High School Gymnasium.  In her first game back in several weeks, Gretchen Theis led Crookston with 16 points as the Pirates celebrated senior night thanking three senior players (Theis, Kasey Cwikla, and Dani Boyle) and a senior manager (Jasmin Hanson). 

FIRST HALF – 
Riley Mooney scored the first basket of the game with a jump shot from the paint, giving Stephen-Argyle a 2-0 lead. Gretchen Theis fired a pass to Kasey Cwikla on the right-block for the tying lay-up at 2-2. Leah Johnson regained the lead for the Storm with a lay-up through a foul, adding the free-throw to make it 5-2. Marey Kazmierczak added a basket giving Stephen-Argyle a 7-3 lead. Hayden Winjum made a lay-up to pull within two points before Danielle Boyle picked up a steal and took the ball to the opposing end of the floor for a lay-in tying the game at 7-7. Gretchen Theis gave the Pirates their first lead of the game with a free-throw putting Crookston in front 8-7. Brooke Clausen answered with a jump shot from the baseline, regaining a 9-8 lead for Stephen-Argyle. Halle Winjum countered with a reverse lay-up before a three-pointer by Danielle Boyle increased Crookston’s lead to 13-9. Gretchen Theis followed with a lay-up putting the Pirates ahead 15-9. Leah Johnson trimmed the Storm’s deficit down to 15-12 with a three-pointer. Leading 17-15, Abby Borowicz made a pair of free-throws before Hayden Winjum stole a pass and dished an assist to Halle Winjum, giving the Pirates a 21-15 lead. Gretchen Theis poured in two free-throws increasing Crookston’s advantage to 23-15. Kasey Cwikla added a three-pointer allowing Crookston’s lead to expand to 26-17. Trailing 29-19, Stephen-Argyle closed the half on a 6-0 run to pull within 29-25 at halftime. “Overall, it was a really good defensive start for us,” said Crookston head coach Darin Zimmerman. “I thought we got back to playing defense the way we wanted to. Offensively it took us a little while. That was probably a matter of spacing more than anything else. We didn’t have very good spacing on offense. We didn’t execute the way we needed to because of it, but we got rolling in the middle part to later part of the half and played well with the exception of the last 2:30 of the first half. You’ve got to give Stephen-Argyle some credit. They played hard and got back into it in that stretch.”

SECOND HALF-
Annika Carlson opened the second half with a jump shot trimming the visitors’ deficit down to 29-27. Crookston countered with a 7-0 run capped off by Halle Winjum, scoring off a steal increasing the Pirates’ lead to 36-27. Crookston used another 7-0 finished by a Gretchen Theis score increasing the host’s lead to 43-29. The Storm presented a suffocating defense to chip away at the Pirates’ lead pulling within 48-44 thanks to the scoring of Riley Mooney with 6 minutes to play before Gretchen Theis buried a three-pointer giving Crookston a 51-44 lead with 5:45 to play. Out of a Pirates’ timeout, Crookston forced a turnover with a full-court press leading to a back-court violation, but the Pirates were unable to score off the takeaway. Annika Carlson made a pair of free-throws with 4:00 to play bringing Stephen-Argyle within 51-46. Halle Winjum converted a steal into an assist to Hayden Winjum putting the Pirates back in front 53-46, but the Storm answered back with a basket pulling within 53-48. Hayden Winjum earned another steal for Crookston, resulting in free-throws for Halle Winjum at the other end of the court with 1:43 remaining. Winjum swished her second free-throw putting the Pirates’ lead to 54-48. Winjum converted the front end of a one-and-one with 48-seconds to play before swishing another free-throw to make it 56-49. Hayden Winjum tacked on another free-throw with 20-seconds to play, helping Crookston close out a 57-49 win. “We had good leadership,” noted Zimmerman. “Halle and Hayden played well in those closing minutes. I thought we played with a lot of toughness at the end. We probably need to be a little bit more physical, but we had a lot of mental toughness. It was a good way to get back on track. Last week was a good week for us because we learned a lot and played good teams, but didn’t get the results we wanted. Tonight was a good way to get on track a little bit.”

Crookston improves to 19-6 overall. The Pirates wrap up their regular-season on Friday when Crookston travels to Breckenridge for a 6:30 P.M. tip-off on KROX. Stephen-Argyle falls to 12-13 and the Section 8A Girls Basketball tournament seeds will be released on Wednesday.

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