CROOKSTON GIRL’S BASKETBALL DOMINATES AT WIN-E-MAC

The Crookston Pirate Girl’s Basketball team continued to roll in their second game of the season, beating the Win-E-Mac Patriots 73-32 in a game played in Erskine.

Crookston got off to a slow start offensively, but managed to string together enough stops defensively to slowly build its lead throughout the first half. “The girls were ready to go, and they showed it,” said Crookston head coach Darin Zimmerman. The Pirates jumped out to a 26-9 lead with 7:17 to play in the first half before closing the half on a 13-6 run taking a 39-15 lead into halftime. “They did some nice things,” added Zimmerman. “We moved the ball on offense well, and we played good defense.” Zimmerman was pleased with how his team played after the Thanksgiving break. “It shows the veteran nature of this team overall. I thought the first half was a really good half for us. We’re not going to complain about it, but it was a choppy half. There didn’t seem to be a ton of flow to the game,” said Zimmerman. “Because of that, it seemed like every time we got a little bit of momentum, it’s not that we gave it away, but it was hard to sustain it. Some of our runs were a little shorter than maybe we were hoping to get. None the less, I was pleased with that first half.”

The Pirates continued to cruise in the second half doubling up the Patriots 34-17 in the final 18 minutes as Crookston closed out a 73-32 win. “For the first eight minutes of the second half, we just played unbelievable basketball,” noted Zimmerman. “The girls played extremely hard, and they executed. We rose to a different level in the second half. Probably for the first six or seven minutes, probably ninety to ninety-five percent of the time, we kept them out of their halfcourt offense. We forced them into an early turnover or a quick shot that was highly contested. I was pleased to see us raise our level of play in the second half and also execute on the offensive end and turn some misses into points.” Overall, Zimmerman was pleased with his team’s performance on the road for the first time this season. “I’m pleased with the way that we played. Win-E-Mac has a physical team. They play hard. So to go into their place and execute well and come out with a win was a good night for us.”

Crookston improves to 2-0 on the season. The Pirates return to the court on Tuesday when they travel to Red Lake Falls for a 7:30 P.M. tip-off on KROX. Win-E-Mac falls to 0-2.