CROOKSTON GIRL’S BASKETBALL COME UP SHORT AT BRECKENRIDGE

Nobody fouled out for the Crookston Pirates Girl’s Basketball tonight in Breckenridge, which was good, but their shooting woes continued, as did taking care of the ball. At the same time, the Cowgirl hit free throws down the stretch to hang on and defeat the visiting Pirates 38-34 tonight at the Breckenridge High School. In the last game of the regular season, it was the first time the Pirates lost two games in a row after their overtime loss at Badger-Greenbush-Middle River last night in Greenbush!

Much like last night, neither team lit things up from the outside to start things off, working it inside much of the time. Both teams did play in your face defense which caused several turnovers on both sides. After eight minutes of play, Crookston had a 7-6 lead to start the game. It didn’t get much offensively as neither team hit double digits in scoring until Breckenridge’s 6’1 Addison Twidwell scored down low and gave the Cowgirl’s an 11-9 lead with three and a half minutes left in the first half. Crookston cut the lead to 13-11 when Emma Osborn beat everyone down the court for an easy layup with under two minutes to go. In the last two minutes, the only other scoring was after some swift passing by Breckenridge and draining a three-point shot, which gave the Cowgirls a 16-11 lead at half-time. “Our shooting is off for a number of reasons,” said Crookston head coach Darin Zimmerman, “we need to have a little better passing and just be a little more fundamental in our shooting of the jump shot. We talked at half-time about getting the ball into the middle more, and that helped us in the second half.”

Crookston scored five straight points to start the second half and took a 17-16 lead, but Carcie Materi nailed a three to regain the lead at 19-17 with just over three minutes into the last stanza. No team could widen the lead by more than three points either way until just over a minute to go in the game! Ally Perreault had a little run with two free throws, made a nice pass to Osborn, who scored two, and then Perreault made a nice move down low and a kiss off the glass during two minutes, and the Pirates led 23-21. Like all the leads in the game, they were short-lived. Halle Winjum, who led the Pirates in scoring with 19 points, would hit three baskets in four scores, including two three-pointers in a row and with six and a half minutes left, and the Pirates had a 32-29 lead. “Halle is a good and tough-minded player,” said Zimmerman, “her improvement tonight from last night had a lot to do with patience. She attacked at better times and better angles.”  Crookston struggled scoring and missing free throws in the next five minutes, while Breckenridge would make eight of eight free throws during this stretch and widened their lead to 37-32 with 1:11 left in the game. ” We need to get our leaders leading and playing with a little more of a toughness mindset,” said Zimmerman, “Scoring will come when that happens.”
After a Pirate timeout, Halle Winjum made a steal and was fouled and made both free throws, and it was 37-34 with 42.6 seconds left. Breckenridge’s free throw prowess was derailed when they missed twice, and with 38 seconds left, Crookston was down by one score, three points. Unfortunately, the Pirates turned the ball over and fouled, and the Cowgirl’s eighth-grader, Parker Yaggie, made one of two free throws to make it a two possession game at 38-34 with 14.7 seconds left, and they would hold on to that lead and their 11th win of the season!! “Despite being cold, we were right there,” said Zimmerman, “we just need to execute a little better.”

Crookston is now 21-5 on the season and will find out where they will be seeded on Sunday for the Section 8AA Tournament, which starts on Thursday of next week. The Pirate’s chance for a second seed behind Fergus Falls seems to have evaded them after the two regular season-ending losses and allowed Perham to squeak by them. In the first round at home, the Pirates could play any number of teams, Frazee, Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton, or Red Lake. “This is obviously not the way we wanted to end the regular season, but we will get it figured out and play out style of basketball next week.”
This year, Breckenridge dropped down to Class A is 11-12 on the season and plays in Section 6A.